Disclaimer: All standard disclaimers apply
A/N: there will be slight animal testing in this chapter as well as a derogatory comment about gays, this is not my personal view on them just against the person mentioned. So please note that no offense is meant by it.
The next morning walking to breakfast was turning out to be a surreal experience for Gryffindor duo. Most of the older students would give an acknowledging nod of the head. Even Percy Weasley took the time out of his morning routine to thank Neville; and seeing the confused look on Hermione's face he promised to explain later.
Reaching the Great Hall the Gryffindor duo met up with the Hufflepuff duo and together they sat at the Hufflepuff table. After eating a good portion of food, and sharing a slightly mean snicker at the fact that the youngest Weasley boy was stuck with hospital gruel, the mail arrived with a falcon landing regally in front of the Longbottom heir.
Giving the beautiful bird one of his breakfast sausages Neville unclasped the letter canister from it's back. Withdrawing the letter he saw his family's crest sealing it he made a hasty apology to the group before heading someplace more private to read his letter.
After Neville left the trio got up and left to go find one of the many unused classrooms so they could talk in peace. Finally finding one that wasn't overly cluttered with junk they made themselves comfy. This of course meaning that Toph made a chair out of stone, Hadrian sprawled himself on the floor, and Hermione, not finding the cold stone all that comfy, sat on one of the many desks.
After taking a brief moment to get settled Hermione spoke. "So what did you guys do while I was gone?"
Toph let out a small chuckle before speaking. "Oh no you don't, you go first; you're the one who left after all."
With a sigh of defeat Hermione spoke. "Well I really didn't do anything special over break. Went to my grandparents house, helped out on their ranch. You know the normal routine. I told my mother about the two of you, she said that she would like to meet you if that's ok," the last bit being accompanied by a small blush.
Smiling softly Toph spoke. "We'd love to meet your parents Hermione. Now what else did you do?"
"Meditating when I got the chance, I'm actually having a hard time with it. What about you two, what did you do over break?"
Smirking Toph answered. "Well, we worked on our meditation and our bending mostly. Other than that we met with the Headmaster and then sat back as Neville broke the moron's arm." The last part was said in a savoring tone, as if one would hold a fond memory.
"Ok, care explaining to me why you had to meet with the Headmaster? You guys aren't in any trouble are you?"
Shrugging her shoulders Toph said. "Not that we know of; you tell her Hadrian."
Flicking a pebble at her Hadrian asked in a playful tone, "why is it that I always have to explain everything?"
In an equally playful tone came the ever predictable response. "Because I said so, that's why."
With an overly dramatic sigh Hadrian didn't miss a beat with the trained male response, "of course dear," this of course earned him a fist-sized projectile to the back of his head. Rubbing the small bump in a dismissive manner he sat up straighter to recount the tale of what had happened.
~*~ Flashback ~*~
It was mid-afternoon that found three figures walking down one of the many hallways that filled the castle. Upon reaching what appeared to the largest of the group leaned over and said something, that sounded oddly like pop rocks, to the guardian statue before stepping off to the side as a doorway opened up.
"This is where I leave you dearies; the Headmaster is right at the top of those stairs."
"Thank you Professor Sprout, see you later." Hadrian said with a bow..
Standing on the spiraling staircase proved to be just a touch bit unsettling, not for the fact that they started moving but because they weren't controlling the movement. Touching to the landing they walked over to the door and made to knock. However before their fists could impact upon the wooden surface the calculative, grandfatherly coated, voice of the Headmaster bade them to enter.
Holding the door open for Toph before entering and closing it behind himself. Both couldn't help but grit their teeth in annoyance at the high pitched whine that seemed to come from the general area of the headmaster. Taking a small breath to steel his nerves Hadrian spoke. "You wanted to speak to us sir?"
Smiling he bid them over. "Yes I did; please have a seat." Waving his wand Dumbledore preformed his favorite parlor trick, he made two armchairs appear for his guests.
Sitting down the two smiled softly at the level of comfort the chairs brought. After taking a moment to saver said comfort Hadrian spoke up. "Not to be rude sir but what is this about?"
Looking over his half-moon glasses Dumbledore couldn't help but wonder just how strong these two where. The story from the prefect in Hufflepuff combined with the stories from the other professors on their classes showed a level of potential in many fields; something that had him worried. Taking just a moment longer to make sure that they were settled he spoke. "Would either of you like some tea or perhaps a lemon drop?" Receiving a negative he continued on, "no? Well on to business then. It has been recently brought to my attention that you have been running around in the Dark Forest. As first years the forest is off limits to you for your own safety. That being said why were you in there?"
Outwardly Hadrian was as calm as ever, but on the inside all he wanted to do was cry out in pain. The whining noise was driving him nuts, his ears wanted to bleed to help relieve the pressure it was causing, but he gritted his teeth and answered. "Well sir with all due respect, we had no idea that the forest was off limits. As to what we were doing, we were practicing our bending like always."
Sensing the pain of the two young-lings and knowing what was causing it Fawkes flew over and started singing a song of comfort. Seemingly all at once the constant screeching faded and the pain in their ears stopped. With a sigh escaping them both they reached over to pet the bird in thanks before pulling back slightly shocked.
Her voice taking on a tone of wonder Toph spoke. "He's so soft and warm. What type of bird is he?" As she finished her question she went back to carding her fingers through the feathers of the crooning bird.
Chuckling to himself the headmaster decided to answer her question before going back to the matter at hand. "His name is Fawkes, Ms. Bei Fong, and he is a phoenix. Surprisingly he seems to have taken a shine to the both of you. Now, in light of you not knowing the forest was off limits, a grave error by the staff and myself, and you both doing a a great service by rescuing that unicorn, you will not be punished and an award for services to the school will be put in the Trophy room. However I do ask that you no longer enter into the forest for whatever injured that unicorn is still out there somewhere."
"That's understandable sir," Hadrian said before asking "but may we have a a place in the castle to practice our bending? Maybe somewhere in the dungeons so we won't be in any ones way?"
Taking a moment to think it over he responded with, "as long as it doesn't harm the integrity of the school's foundation and you ask Professor Snape for permission I don't see why not."
A soft, "thank you sir," was the only response that had left to give on the matter and after being dismissed they walked calmly out of the office after another quick stroke to Fawkes' feathers as if to say goodbye to him before they all but flew down the stairs and out onto the grounds to enjoy the last bit of winter sunlight.
~*~ End Flashback ~*~
"Whoa, whoa, whoa; rewind, stop, and freeze. You guys saved a unicorn? How? We're nowhere near covering healing charms in class and wont be for another couple of years and even then its only a mention, we never really get to learn them unless we become a healer." Hermione shot off, eyes wide and arms moving to punctuate her sentences.
Laughing softly at their friend's response to the tale Hadrian decided to take pity on her and answer as best he could. "Well Hermione most of it was us just wanting to help the poor thing and our magic doing it for us. Simple as that really."
"Be that as it may Harry," Hermione stated in a slightly awe filled tone, "that would take a lot of energy from both of you."
Snickering Toph supplied, "well Hermione we did sleep for about two days after the fact and ate like starving polar-leopards once we awoke."
Nodding her head in acceptance Hermione sat in silent thought for a few moments. They could almost hear their friend's brain working to digest the new information. A fraction of a second later somethings clicked into place for her, making her eyes widen and her heartbeat to accelerate which Toph and Hadrian picked up on immediately.
"What is it Hermione?" Toph asked picking up on her friend's excitement.
It was with a smirk that anyone would pick up on, regardless of weather they where facing her or not, that she told them about her stroke of brilliance. "Well guys, I just figured something out, when school started it was in the paper that someone had broken into Gringotts Bank. But whatever they where trying to take was removed from the vault by The Keeper of the Keys and Grounds, Rebus Hagrid on Headmaster Dumbledore's orders. I bet you anything that that is what that thing on the third floor is guarding. We need to find out what it is because I have a feeling that whoever tried to steal it from Gringotts will try stealing it from here and may have already. Have you two noticed anything at all?"
"Not to be rude Hermione, but how do you jump from us being out cold for two days to something stolen from a bank? You know just curious on that." Hadrian remarked.
"Well whatever is attacking the unicorns must be a very powerful dark magician, the same must be true for someone to break into Gringotts with all the spells and wards they have, what if whatever was taken out was placed here for protection? So come on guys have you noticed anything at all?" Hermione asked bright eyed with excitement.
Thinking back a bit Toph spoke up. "That night you where attacked by the troll Professor Quirrell came barging in screaming about there being a troll in the dungeon before fainting. Obviously he was lying about that, but scene everyone started freaking out I couldn't tell if he really passed out or just faking it."
Thinking back to that night as well Hadrian spoke. "Professor Snape was limping when he got to us with the others. We know for a fact there was no way he could of run into the troll, he would of disposed of it and the whole situation would have been avoided. With that in mind is it safe to assume that he went to see the dog? And if so was he checking to see if anyone had or was trying to get passed? I don't think he would try to get it to tell the truth."
"Those are good questions..., I'm sorry but can I call you Harry? Hadrian just seems so formal," receiving a nod she continued, "anyway as I was saying, Harry those are good questions but it's like the situation with the troll he would of easily gotten around it if he was trying to go after whatever its guarding. What we need to do is speak with this Hagrid fellow and see what he might know." Hermione finished with a slight huff.
With a smile Toph spoke. "Would you like to meet him Hermione? Hadrian and I are supposed to meet him for tea next weekend, I'm sure he'd love to meet you and besides we've told him about you anyway. So what do you say we get out of this stuffy classroom, find our gang, and find something to do." With that they stood, dusted themselves off, and ran off once again to find something to do.
~*~ Meanwhile in Dumbledore's Office ~*~
The old man paced back and forth, all the while muttering obscenities under his breath, contemplating on how to handle the girl. Truthfully she seemed stronger willed than he originally estimated and that was proving to be a problem. Her influence on Harry seemed great, they were barely ever seen without each other. If push came to shove he would have to get rid of her, however she had formed some kind of bond with Harry and it would be unwise to separate them until he knew the specifics of that bond.
Getting sick of pacing Dumbledore sat behind his desk and poured himself a cup of tea, throwing in a couple of lemon drops for flavoring. Halfway through his second cup he was struck by an idea. 'What if I tried to modify the spell? Surely it would take some time, but by the time it's done I'll be able to tell what sort of bond those two share. And once I sent her back Harry will be mine to mold as I see fit.' So with an insane smile he pulled out some parchment, his quill, and grabbed two books, one being the book where he found the spell and the other being one of many reference books he would end up needing.
Over on his perch Fawkes shook his avian head and let out a trill of foreboding before he took flight out the window with the thought, 'exercise is in order and then maybe a frozen dragon-fire fruit. Hopefully he will catch himself before he falls.'
~*~ Off in Snape's Private Labs ~*~
Here we find our resident Potion's Master doing what he does best, creating new and bettering old potions. His current project was trying to create a regenerative drought that would regrow the user's eye(s). It wouldn't however fix the loss of eye sight but it would put them on the path to get it fixed later.
Though it wasn't for lack of trying that he couldn't get the potion to do both, it was the ingredients. When mixed together they took on a highly toxic property that just couldn't be nullified for safe consumption.
Standing there he hoped that one of the three cauldrons would have the concoction needed to do what he wanted. If not then he still had several recipes written out to try.
Walking over to the one on the far right he picked up the stirring rod next to it and started stirring the potion seven times while sprinkling in an ounce of lemon grass. Pulling out the rod he counted out thirty seconds with bated breath. As soon as he hit thirty the potion changed from a milky white to a frothy bluish-green indicating it was done.
With a grin he ladled he poured a good amount into a flask labeled ER - 45 and then poured the rest in a vile. Taking the vile and an eye-dropper he walked over to one of his lab rats that had it eyes magically removed. Filling the eye-dropper with a size proportional amount he fed the contents to the rat and then sat back to observe the rat and take notes.
At first nothing seemed to be happening and then the rat let out a screech of pain before rubbing it's face against the ground. Shortly there after it fell onto it's side and started twitching, letting out rodent like whimpers it's breathing labored.
Closer inspection reveled that the eyes had regenerated inside their sockets and where the correct shape and size. Getting excited Snape checked the animal's vitals and then left it for observation after a series of quick tests. Come morning if the rat showed no sign of side effects then he would contact his guild with the results and get his works approved and published in the guilds library.
So it was with a smirk that he headed to lunch after cleaning up and placing a monitoring charm. Any non-slytherin student that saw ran far far away fearing for their lives.
~*~ Later That Evening ~*~
A little after nightfall there was a soft knock on his office door. Not expecting anyone that evening he looked over at the empty portrait over his mantle.
Moments later the portrait was filled with a beautiful red haired, green eyed, woman. Without any prompting she spoke in an angelic voice. "Severus, there are two Hufflepuffs talking with your guardian portrait waiting to speak with you."
"Thank you Lily, I shall return shortly." With that Snape stood from his desk in his study, went through his living quarters, and into his office to open the door on the far end. Letting them in he asked, "would it be alright if we connived in my study?"
Receiving an affirmative he led them through and got them settled in his study by offering them refreshments before sitting himself in an armchair across the couch he sat them upon. Holding his cup of tea in his hands he spoke. "So what brings you both down here this evening?"
Placing his cup on the coffee table Hadrian let a bit of playfulness enter his voice as he spoke to the Potions Master. "Well sir today is Saturday and I believe it was you who set up our extra lessons, was it not? But we did want to speak with you before we started tonight if that's ok?"
"And what Mr. Bei Fong would be so important that you would expect me to delay my lesson?" Snape Drawled, a ghost of a smile coloring his tone readable to those who know him.
"Well sir we no longer have a place to practice our bending and we were wondering if it's alright with you we could use a place down here?"
"And what happened to your old place? Surely you haven't destroyed it beyond usage so soon." Again needing to know him to catch the surprise in his voice.
With a pouting note to her voice, though no one would ever say so to her face, Toph answered. "No, the headmaster said we couldn't go into the forest until third year and even then not without supervision."
Letting out a dark chuckle Snape responded to that with one of his greatest weapons, logic.
"That is not without good reason Ms. Bei Fong; as it stands many years ago a lot of youngsters lost their lives in there because they couldn't defend themselves properly. After all there are many reasons that it is called the dark forest. However I have seen the results of your bending abilities and I must admit that I am curious and would like to see some of it for myself. So how about this, I will allow you both to use one of the larger rooms down a bit further down if you would allow me to observe every once and a while."
"I have no problem with that, how about you Toph?" Hadrian asked.
"No, just a question. Would you be able to get the taste of the mold and mildew out of the air? Perhaps make the room more like outside, sparring indoors all the time gets boring."
Understanding where she was coming from he thought for a moment and then spoke. "Personally I can not but perhaps I can speak with some of the other teachers and see if we can set something up. It might take a while though." Nodding in acceptance they let that matter rest happy that they once again had a decent place to bend.
Thinking that that was the end of the idle chatter Snape made to stand up before Toph's voice stopped his movement. "Now sir before you grab the book we wanted to let you know that we thought over what you told us a few days ago and I would be willing to try your arrangement, at least for the summer."
After she stopped Hadrian picked up. "Me too sir. I don't like not being able to go home like everyone else but at least I can stay with Toph."
Nodding his head Snape spoke. "Thank you for letting me know. Though I hope you realize that you will not be sharing sleeping quarters in my home." The last part being a small joke to try and lift their spirits a bit.
It seemed to work as they all had a quick laugh at that before both Toph and Hadrian spoke at the same time. "Of course sir, we wouldn't dream of it."
With a fond tone to his voice Snape spoke. "Well, now that that is settled lets go over the potion I have planed for next week." And with that the most feared Professor at Hogwarts started going over the hair growth drought and took the time to explain the subtle differences in certain steps, the ingredient list, and what could be prepared before hand.
And so the hour and a half passed without too much fanfare as Lily sat back and watched the scene unfold before Severus put the book down and asked "any questions?" After receiving a negative he continued, "Ok then its time to gather your notes and head out least you miss curfew. I will see you two Monday morning."
After that he got up and motioned for them to lead the way out. Saying goodnight at the door Snape trudged back into his study.
Looking at the portrait of Lilly Potter he saw the the questions in her painted orbs and did the only sane thing to do, he poured himself a tumbler of Fire-whiskey before sitting down to weather the storm.
"What is it Lily?" He asked, having a feeling he knew what was coming.
Looking a little bit nervous but already having made up her mind she spoke, having a hunch and wanting to confirm it. "Those children Severus, are they blind?"
"Yes Lily they are. It is the reason I have been working almost non-stop in my labs during my free time and why I have devoted Thursdays and Saturdays to help them stay a float in their classes." He said sipping at his whiskey.
"I see, what is this bending they where speaking of?" She asked genuinely curious.
Blinking a bit he looked back at her and told her the truth. "I'm not entirely sure what it is but from what I can gather it is a form of wand-less elemental magic, those two used it to take down a full grown mountain troll, they also use it to sense vibrations in the ground to see everything around them. It sounds quite useful, I wouldn't want to make an enemy out of them."
"Interesting, and the boy Severus? What about him, he looks so much like James did, please don't tell me it's..." She cut herself off not wanting to think of the possibility of it being her son.
"I'm afraid it is Lily, when you passed on Dumbledore thought it was safer for your sister to watch after your son. From what I got from her husband's mind when I was brought in to 'ask' a few questions, your son Harry used his magic to get away after being blinded and nearly killed by the man, and I am using the term man loosely. However we found Harry's baby blanket in the cupboard under the stairs and used that to summon him to the castle. When the light of the summoning faded however both of them where standing back to back and looked to be prepared to fight."
"Once we got everything smoothed over he insisted that his name was Hadrian Bei Fong. He also corrected Dumbledore several times concerning that issue stating that to the best of his knowledge his family have never been in the pottery business nor did he plan to start. Add the fact that they essentially have elemental powers that are somehow tied with martial arts, it makes for an interesting first meeting." The last bit was said with a chuckle.
With a growl Lily started up. "That bastard left my son with those poor excuse for people! Oh that son of a bitch is so lucky I'm dead and not a ghost Or I'd be haunting his pillow biting ass until it drove the fucker sane!"
Seeing that this rant was going to go on for a bit he said one last thing before running off to bed. "They will be living with me now Lily and don't worry they will all get theirs. I can guaranty you that."
