Hello everyone again! *Snape nods curtly and goes to fix a Fuzzy navel from a recipe that some fans gave him surreptitiously during the end of last time* I hope he fixes one for me, too… hehe
So, let's see what will happen today! You really HAVE to worship me for updating, even at this rather moderate rate, because during the week I work 12 hours a day and study for my senior year the rest of the time… yet here it is! Your instalment.
Chapter 11 *hits play*
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Harry heard the yowl from the cat and the sound implied that it was jumping at him or at the Inquisitor. He jumped away in the opposite direction and felt hostile magical energy brush past his face. He gasped, feeling like a knife cut him, but he didn't linger at all. He pointed his wand again and shot the curse he loved the most:
"Lepidae!"
The curse homed in and hit the Inquisitor, missing Sombre by inches. In his flailing, the Inquisitor grabbed at the cat and managed to point his wand at himself and whisper the countercurse. By the time he looked up, the Boy-Who-Lived was running away down the hall. Any element of surprise was lost, at least for tonight.
The Inquisitor's grip tightened on Sombre's neck in anger. "I almost had him and it's your fault! I'll make skin out of you!"
Sombre found himself in a very tight spot- he vaguely knew that voice, and it was not an acquaintance he would appreciate knowing his secret. He therefore couldn't afford to shift without killing the Inquisitor. But if that happened, a dead Inquisitor might mean Dumbledore's indictment at a time where the Order of the Phoenix needed its leader the most. Cat fight it is then… Sombre thought grimly as the oxygen was starting to have trouble reaching his brain and he growled and clawed at the man. He scratched the hand that was holding him deeply many times, but the Inquisitor wouldn't relax his grip. He pointed his wand at the cat, and the curse hit full blast, sending the small Burmese crashing in the armour of the hall.
"Stupefy!"
"Pedalis Nix!"
"Cicatricas Manos!"
"Corpus Avaris!"
"Pantaichis!"
5 curses hit squarely the Inquisitor, some of them quite creative, from five different wands. All the members of the Study Group that had already gone to the room of Requirement for the meeting had followed Harry back to the aisle. Draco and Blaise grinned with satisfaction at their handiwork, smiling between themselves those dangerous smiles that Slytherin was known to house. Ron scowled darkly.
"Are you sure we've done enough?"
"Well, we could have him hanging upside down from the ceiling and write on the wall 'Beware the Study Group' in bloody letters, but hasn't that been done before?" Blaise quipped and Draco chuckled.
"Guys, Sombre must be here somewhere! Can you look for him?" Harry said urgently, and Hermione was heard picking through the armour.
"Harry, I think the cat is pinned between the armour plates. He doesn't look very happy," she said grimly as Harry walked over there.
"Is he bleeding? He saved my life!"
"We'll see. I'll disentangle him first," Hermione said and waved her wand. The armour plates shrunk and pulled away, leaving the small cat lying on his side and mewing in irritation.
"Let's take him to Pomfrey," Ron said.
"Then we'll have to tell about the Inquisitor," Blaise warned.
"He has already seen us," Hermione said.
"No, he was too busy picking on the cat. He has only seen Harry," Draco said, looking at the Inquisitor in contempt. The man was floating a few feet off the floor, squiggling in itchiness he couldn't counter, his hands so dreadfully lacerated that he couldn't use his wand, and his feet refusing to obey him. The Study Group had learnt to work together well in curse combination.
"What happened here!?" Professor Lupin's voice was heard from the hall as the DADA professor was running to meet them.
"I was going to our meeting, and the Inquisitor jumped me. Sombre prevented him from killing me- he used some sort of sabre spell, so I couldn't hear him chant," Harry said. Remus saw Harry's cheek was still bleeding from a diagonal cut that started from his jawline and ended at his nose- it looked nasty, but could be fixed later.
"We have lingered here enough. Let's go in the room," he said and got Sombre from Hermione's hands. He looked injured, but nothing was bleeding. As most of the Study Group entered the room of Requirement, Remus pressed Sombre gently in several places. The cat growled and glared.
"Do you know how we can help him?"
"I know we can't take him to Poppy. I am not sure what we should do, and the Headmaster is out with Mr. Black," Remus said thoughtfully.
"We can't let him suffer! He might die before they return! Is there nobody that can help and be trusted?" Harry said urgently. Remus sighed and looked at the cat.
"I will have to do it. After all, this presents the chance you wanted," he told Sombre who shut his eyes, bracing for the pain that was about to ensue.
"What chance?" Draco asked and Harry frowned.
Remus concentrated, telling the room of Requirement that he really needed a bed, and it popped up nearby. The Study Group blinked.
"Why a man-sized bed?" Hermione asked. Harry felt his heart beat faster, his mind racing. If Sombre is an animagus… that I found near a cauldron some time ago… could it be? He gripped Ron's arm so hard in anticipation that Ron yelped.
Remus set Sombre on the bed and pointed his wand. He spoke the spell needed to restore human form to the cat. With a pop and a loud groan, Severus Snape morphed into his usual snarky self.
Silence filled the room, as everyone stared and could not believe their eyes. Harry ran to the bed, his hands quickly reaching the face, to feel the features. He barely had time to touch a hooked nose before the scathing remark came, more welcome than Harry could ever imagine it could be:
"Paws… off, Potter!"
"You are alive! You are alive!? You are alive!" Harry's voice intonated differently as different emotions flooded him. Without thinking, he punched Snape where he calculated his stomach to be.
"You git, I will kill you myself now! Why did you do this to me!?" Draco and Ron had to pull Harry back as Snape hissed in more pain and curled up on the bed. Remus rushed forward.
"Harry, it's not prudent to hit him right now. Wait until we have fixed him," he said quickly.
"I'll fix him! Permanently! Is that your idea of a joke!? I couldn't sleep at nights because I thought you had died because of me!" Harry fought against Ron's and Draco's grip, trying to fly at the Professor again.
"From the looks of it, he might still die, Potter," Draco said scathingly, in a worried voice. Harry stopped, panting.
"How can we help you, Professor?" Blaise asked, for the first time happily. She understood why Snape had hidden the fact that he was still alive- she was just as Slytherin as her mentor, and currently she was only happy that he was there, among them.
"Gag… Potter… first," Snape managed to utter.
Remus had to chuckle. "I told you that he has his father's temperament. I'll run a diagnosis on you, because I don't see anything broken or bleeding."
"Don't… have to… curse was… ugh… Sang Frigidae…"
Harry paled. That was a curse to freeze the blood slowly in the victim's veins, causing stroke and heart attack in the same time.
"Potion, do you have a potion for this?" Harry asked quickly.
Snape didn't answer immediately, making Harry even more agitated. He didn't want the Potions Master to die now that he had finally gotten him back. Remus bent over Severus, and listened intently while he whispered instructions in the werewolf's ear.
"Harry, Severus tells me you move fast and quietly through the aisles. Take Hermione and Draco with you and go to the dungeons. In his personal cupboard there are three vials labelled with three runes. You will have to brew the potion exactly like you do for Pepper Up, adding in the end the three vials in the exact sequence the runes indicate together. Hermione, I trust you can help the boys in the area?"
Hermione nodded quickly. Remus nodded.
"Good. Draco, you brew the potion because you are sighted and Harry, Severus says that the potion should go under a freezing charm the moment the scent changes. He trusts you can do it."
"We will. Just keep him alive until then," Harry said with determination as Draco called one invisibility cloak to him. Hermione hugged Ron once for support, Draco winked to Blaise, and then the Gryffindor and the Slytherin gathered around Harry, and threw the cloak over them.
"Are we properly camouflaged?" Harry asked.
"We're all set, Potter," Draco said, and the three students were out the door.
***
Dumbledore returned quickly that same day to Hogwarts, after Remus informed him of the crisis that occurred during his absence. Remus was waiting for him in his office.
"What is the situation as we speak?" Albus asked as he walked to a chair in the DADA room. It wasn't safe to speak in the headmaster's office with the Inquisitor always present.
"Severus is in Harry's prefect room. He is weak yet and has joint pains, but he is recuperating fine. By tomorrow he should be good as new. Apparently, it was as we suspected, and the Inquisitors are after Harry's life."
"What of the Inquisitor that attacked Harry?"
"He is still under Poppy's care. The students were very creative with their curse combinations. I also suspect that Poppy isn't doing everything in her capacity for the man's quick recuperation," Remus said with a small smirk.
"Did Professor Flitwick do it?"
"Yes. The Inquisitor is partly obliviated- he remembers being in a skirmish but not with whom."
"That is good. When Severus is healthy, we will continue with our initial plan- Sirius is preparing everything at Black Manor. Of course we will have to inform Harry so that the plan can succeed."
"Miss Zabini informed me that there is excitement among the Death Eater ranks. They are all expecting a big gathering soon, so more than the inner circle will be gathered."
"Good, good. How did Harry take the revelation of Severus' demise?"
"He isn't talking to me at the moment, but I think after punching Severus he forgave him," Remus said with a small smile.
Albus smiled and got up.
"I think that we have established enough that we do not intend to cross the Inquisitors in the least. I should think that after almost a month of inactivity, our side seems weakened enough."
"What are you saying, Headmaster?" Remus said, his heart beating fast with the excitement- it was going to be the end of waiting and brooding, and finally action would be taken.
"I am saying that now is the time for that visit to Minister Bagman." Dumbledore said cheerfully, and then walked towards the exit. "And I do believe that today the custard will be particularly tasty, don't you?"
***
Harry watched Snape rest through Sasha's eyes, and for the first time he was glad to see the stern professor reclining and recuperating. He usually felt sorry or guilt, but he was returned from the dead in Harry's mind, and the fact that he could watch him breathing was a gift that he had long believed unattainable. He caught himself smiling, forgetting the time.
"You will make Sasha go unconscious, Potter," Snape said as he opened his eyes a crack. Harry sat up in surprise- he had forgotten that the mind link could tire Sasha that much if it were upheld for more that 1 hour continuously. He broke the link quickly.
"I'm sorry, Sasha," he hissed to the snake apologetically and petted her.
"No, Harry… I'm glad you liked what you ssssaw," Sasha hissed then thrust her head up Harry's sleeve to sleep off the tiredness.
Without vision now, the advantage of watching was on Snape's part again, and he watched not without satisfaction the look of content on the boy's face. It feels so nice to have you be so glad I am alive. Lily's genes more than Potters, I bet.
"So, how?" Harry asked, breaking the silence.
"How, what?" Snape asked back.
"How did you survive the Avada Kedavra?" Harry repeated, his eyes staring motionlessly at the opposite wall. They were unresponsive to the light, and so did not move away from the ray of the sun that shone right into them, making the emerald colour of Lily's eyes deep and sparkling. He still had on his cheek a paper thin scar that was quickly disappearing where the Inquisitor's curse had cut him.
"I'll answer you if you answer me the same question first," Snape said in amusement, shifting in the bed sorely.
"Come on, Professor, I can't believe a Slytherin like you took a chance with something so tremendously important. Do I have to ask someone else? They might wonder why I want to know that," Harry purred almost, sparring with the Potions Master, enjoying the sharp turns the conversation took with the man. He heard Snape breathe in and out carefully. He waited.
"I survived the killing curse because of Professor Lupin, Potter," Snape answered.
"That still doesn't tell me how," Harry pressed.
"There is a charm, a medicinal one, called Effectio Stasis- it makes the body stop all metabolism, all activity. In sort it gives the semblance of death. The killing curse can act only when it can bind to something that it detects is alive. Under the stasis spell, there is no indication of life. Professor Lupin cast the charm on me seconds before the killing curse hit. When it did hit me, it thought I was already dead, and dispersed in the air. Is that sufficient information?"
Harry nodded slowly, taking the information in. He recalled hearing Remus chant, but he never had thought that he could have been chanting something to protect Snape from the killing curse. Harry decided he would forgive Remus for keeping him in the dark on this, just because he was so efficient in his timing.
"I am happy to know you are alive. I still hate you for not letting me know, but I guess there was logic behind it… damn I envy Blaise. She just took it as natural, what you did."
"Zabini has the mentality of a Slytherin, not a Gryffindor, Potter."
"The Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin initially," Harry said. If Snape was surprised, there was no trace of the surprise in his voice.
"Still, it didn't put you there in the end. So that is not much of an argument, is it?"
"I guess not…" Harry said and got up, picking up his cane. "I have to go to class, Professor."
"I gathered as much," Snape said, watching Harry pick up his bag and walk towards the exit. As he was about to open the door, Snape said with a small smile that he knew Harry wouldn't be able to hear in his voice:
"Oh and Potter?"
The boy stopped without turning.
"That will be 20 points from Gryffindor for punching me, and 50 for calling me a git," Snape said and Harry smirked, shaking his head, as he walked out and warded his door. The man has –got- to sort out his priorities…
***
Blaise was especially happy that day- Snape was alive, she knew curses that Pansy couldn't even dream of, her cover was well established and she was getting good grades, too. She walked towards the Charms classroom with Draco, who seemed to always have time to escort her to the classes they had in common, and never time to even talk to Pansy. Parkinson's bickering about that amused her immensely.
"There are some days that you think everything is perfect in the world," she told Draco as they walked through the aisles. He smirked and side looked at her.
"Now that's a thought I'd expect the youngest Weasley to voice," he said and Blaise elbowed him playfully. The fact that Snape was back had helped bring up the girl's natural youth in character and countenance, instead of the stony silence and the lust for revenge one could usually see churning in her eyes. She is almost bouncy, Draco thought with amusement. Not only amusement, he thought a little surprised, but also fondness. He did not just respect Blaise Zabini, or admire her for undertaking something he never thought he could do, but… he just liked the damn girl.
"Well I don't see why I can't see perfection in the world once in a while. Seeing it always deranged and drab is tiring to the senses, and I feel happy today, regardless the Inquisitors around," she said and smiled thinly.
"I'm glad then. You look better when you are happy," Draco replied.
"Oh so I don't look good when I am unhappy, is that it?" Blaise pretended to be insulted, and Draco smirked.
"Don't try that trip with me, Zabini," he drawled, "because I know every trick in the syntax and grammar and you can't turn what I said on it's head: I said you looked better, not that you don't look good in general."
"Is that so, mr. Malfoy? So you are, in other words, paying me a complement?"
Draco arched an eyebrow and smiled again.
"Perhaps I am," he said.
The conversation would have gone on further, had it not been interrupted by a loud squawk from a nondescript owl. It came right at Draco and offered him a letter. Draco frowned and his heart started beating fast.
"It's from my mother," he said tentatively, as he opened the note.
Dear Draco
your father has escaped from Azkaban. Watch your step, you are not safe.
Mum
Draco's hands holding the paper started shaking.
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That's it for today! Things are escalating or not? *snickers* *gets a Fuzzy Navel from Snape who has gone to refill his glass* He seems to like it! Hee hee.
As for my reviewers:
Barbara Kennedy: Well, nothing stops you from writing out what you think would go on in Snape's Wake! I'd love to read it! As for Sombre getting hurt, well, he's accident prone. *chuckles* But he is, I think, done with injuries for this story. There are others to take up that, now. *evil grin*
Love Childe: Well, he certainly is not thinking in the usual way… but he IS thinking, I assure you. *wink*
Phoenix Padfoot 89: eh… well because I wanted to leave it hanging. *L* I am bad.
Rilaisseth: I am glad! Here is more!
Allison lightning: actually, we both schemed over this. We wanted to see how you'd react if he was the one that died. *wink*
Chantelli: *L* I am glad you appreciate! *Severus feels queasy about eating himself, but Sirius exterminates the cookies*
water drifter: we don't really know who the Inquisitors are, yet…
Marauder3Moony: here's more then…
Shinigami06: I am not sure if you will like the scene after all. I mean, it was not entirely canon, as a 'dead-man-reveals-he's-alive-to-other-important-hero-in-story', is it? But still I hope you enjoyed.
Maximum Poofy-Pissed Off Queen: Well I hope you found it fun. And look there! An Inquisitor got his ass whipped by our Study group!!
Ms. Padfoot: I think he would be a cat. hee hee. Cats can be so devious and stealthy and sneaky when they want to. That and he is the other side of McGonagall, isn't he? Or was that too far fetched? *L*
Mikee: sorry about the cliffies… I won't hurt Sev… completely. I mean, he can take it. *dodges empty flying cocktail glass from Snape* eh… yeah. *L* As for Sasha, not really, because she isn't that interested in cats. Now, Crookshanks is a whole different deal. *chuckles*
Kemenran: Ludo is worse than Fudge, because he actually is a puppet minister, and acts upon other people's orders. At least with Fudge, we know that the stupidity is all his, right? As for the rest, I can't really say, yet.
Lady Lightning: well, it's not bad either, is it?
kateydidn't: nobody really knows yet… hehe
