Hello again, there's no much happening to me right now other than a desperate wish for Easter to get here because I gave up coke (that's Pepsi Max, not the other kind p) for lend and tea just doesn't fill the gap sigh
Oh, and the only problem with Easter actually being here is that I'd have deadlines and exams, so to help me ignore the mountain of work I should be doing, I thought you might like another chapter of wings! )
I'm afraid I don't like this chapter as much as some of the others … I think its just because everyone's apart and there isn't much conversation… or something!
Ranger Dragen – firstly, thank you so much for the reviews! It means a lot that you look the time to review almost every chapter while you were reading through wings! Secondly … well, you'll find out more about Snape in the next few chapters. (Sorry for being cryptic) the familiars will re-appear in a while, and the powers from Christmas have faded… for now, at least. )
AdeleTCurlz - I'm so flattered that you think Wings is that good! it's so kind of you and I hope you keep enjoying it!
dragon rider – I love your name! Thank you so much for adding me to your favourites, I'm happy you like wings so much. I'm not really sure where I get the ideas from, they just come to me, I guess… perhaps it's a side effect of having two essays that I really should be doing now. Well, wings isn't finished, there's still time for lemons (hopefully next chapter). Snape and Harry fighting? … I like that idea …
BooksAreLife – I really am sorry that it takes me so long, I just have to find the time and the energy, and lately it seems really hard to get both at once!
shellsboy24 – thank you! I hope you're still enjoying it!
Toghgal – thanks! And by the way, that part makes be laugh too )
Pettybureaucrat – thank you, well everyone's having fun because it's all about to start getting a bit more serious.
Bloodless Ace – hehehe thanks!
Chrissy – hello again ) how did I come up with it? Well, I guess it's a mixture of what I would do and what I actually think my characters would do… if that makes any sense at all! Oh and, I'm happy you managed to read the last chapter, I was worried that was acting up or something ) thanks for the review!
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Ron and Hermione were still riding the rush of power so it took a few moments for them to stop grinning at each other and to realise that Ginny, who was facing the doors, was looking shocked and just short of horrified.
Biting her lip, Hermione turned in time to see Snape leave the room before her attention became fixed, along with everyone else's, on the headmaster.
"Well, I had noticed that you had been improving, but I had no idea you were this far along!" Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling, "yes, that makes my news easier to give."
"Albus…" Professor McGonagall, who was still looking very pale, started to talk. "Albus… I thought it was supposed to be a legend"
"It is, Minerva. But then, so are Chambers of Secrets with basilisks inside, and you saw how real that turned out to be." Dumbledore smiled and turned back to the three children… no, the three adults, that stood before him. All three were still trying to catch their breath and looking wide-eyed at their teachers. It had been a long time since he'd enjoyed himself so much.
"So they are… they have been selected?"
"The founders call us 'The Chosen,' if that's what you mean?" Ginny found herself saying, having no idea what her professor had meant.
"The chosen?" Dumbledore repeated, "a fine name, and I think they chose well."
"Excuse me, professor?" Hermione stepped forwards "which legend do you mean?"
"If I may?" Dumbledore began "you are aware that you are not the first group to be selected by the founders, and I doubt that you will be the last. For the most part, history remembers those that were selected because they achieved great things and so their legends have been created. Few know that Hogwart's founders had anything to do with it.
Those that do know, have been told the legend behind the Book of Belonging; that the book will test each student and if fate is willing, it will find those rare students who possess the right qualities, startling amounts power and the right minds to accomplish the near impossible."
"Yes." McGonagall said, "I knew about the book, but I suspected, headmaster, that you may have been…"
"Stringing you along?" he chuckled, "no Minerva, at least about that, I was telling the truth. Which means that this display was part of their training." His eyes twinkled at them all.
"At least this explains things." Professor McGonagall sighed and smiled slightly at the three.
"So you aren't angry with us?" Ron ventured, "for being out after curfew?"
"I have found, Mister Weasley, that suddenly I don't mind at all." Dumbledore said.
Snape held Harry's eyes for a moment and Harry saw emotion after emotion fly through them. Then without saying a word, Snape left and something in his eyes made it clear that Harry should follow.
I'll come back in a little while Harry said to Ginny who glanced at him.
If you need me… she smiled at him before he turned and followed Snape into the entrance hall.
Severus Snape we not used to changing his opinion on someone. He had met Harry Potter and had known him to be just like his father before him, he had known him to be spoilt rotten by his family and he had known him to be a false hero of the wizarding world. Severus had saved his own life time and again by reading people and knowing them. So it was understandable that it had come as a shock to him when Albus called him into his office to show him just how wrong he was.
The headmaster had told him about the founders selecting the four Gryffindors and their reasons for doing so. Potter to lead them, the Weasley girl to guide him, Granger for her logic and the Weasley boy for strategy. These weren't the only reasons, or even the most important ones, but they were the ones the headmaster thought Severus would listen to. He had refused to believe the headmaster's words at first but after seeing the boy, he had finally, finally started to doubt his assumptions about Potter.
Severus had encountered the book of Belonging once before. In fact, he had stolen it when he was in his fifth year. He hadn't believed the book's legend and hadn't believed it had a link to the founders. The book had proved itself to him.
Snape turned to look at Potter. He stood opposite him, twenty feet away across the entrance hall, and met his look. For the first time, Potter wasn't being defiant or defensive. He wasn't looking in hatred or misunderstanding or confusion. He was giving Severus the same look he'd received a few minutes ago; as though he had never seen the potions master before.
Harry had followed Snape in silence, waiting for the inevitable sarcasm or insult, which never came. Snape led the way into the entrance hall and Harry noticed that the way Snape moved was not just intended for intimidating others or just to make his robes billow behind him, it was the way Harry found himself moving. It was for speed and balance and, most importantly, to defend against an attack.
"You…" Harry began to talk but then remembered he was talking to a teacher, and not one likely to answer questions. "Sir, you can fight?"
Whatever Snape had expected him to say, that wasn't it.
"Yes." Snape had answered without thinking. But it had given him an idea.
"Potter," he began "the headmaster tells me you are to defend the school."
Harry blinked. There was no insult in Snape's voice, no sneer, just a statement. "Yes, sir, but not alone, the others-"
"I know, potter." He did it again; answered before he could talk himself into realising this was James Potter's son, he was trying to see one of the founder's selections. It seemed to be the only way he could do this. Potter was standing strong before him and was maintaining a level of politeness he wouldn't have expected from the boy.
Severus would never be able to explain how much it cost him to say his next works. "Potter, there is a… problem. You… The Chosen need to be told."
Harry's eyes widened. He knew Snape was a spy but the fact that it was Snape that was telling him this, and not the Dumbledore was astonishing.
"What do you need?" Harry was finding this easier than he's expected. He wasn't seeing the potions master that he had hated for so long, he was managing, barely, to see the spy instead.
Snape sighed, but if anyone else had done it, it would have almost been a laugh.
"I am supposed to… scare you. I am told to attack you and measure your progress." This time Harry had a fleeting glimpse of how hard it was for Snape to do this, and he found that he actually respected Snape for doing it.
"It wasn't the headmaster that told you." Harry smiled wryly.
"No. It was not." Again Harry heard that sigh that could have been a laugh.
"Then perhaps…" Harry considered for a second. "Perhaps you should do it. Attack me, then… then you wont lie when you report it."
Snape had no clue what he would have said. Potter solved the problem; he shifted into a 'ready' stance and lifted his practice sword.
Snape matched him though, understandably, the sword that Snape summoned was the real thing not a wooden imitation. Granted the wood of Harry's sword was as strong as metal and only stopped the sword from actually cutting into anything, but it would have made Harry feel better to have a live weapon.
"No magic." Harry nodded at Snape's words
He let Snape attack first. Snape was fast, faster than Harry had expected even after realising that Snape must know how to fight. In turn, Harry's block was faster and stronger than Snape had been expecting and for a brief moment, they both had the same thought, as though it was the final piece to make the puzzle complete, they realised it; they had been completely wrong about the other.
Which, they reasoned, didn't mean they had to like each other and didn't mean they had to hold back.
Each one of Snape's attacks was met and parried by Harry who would then defend against Snape's next move. The fight fell into a rhythm so easily that it took Snape a moment to realise why. He broke away from Harry.
"Why are you holding so much back?" for a second, he thought Potter wouldn't answer.
"Why are you?" said Harry before attacking Snape again.
And how much are you holding back? Snape thought to himself.
This time it was different, they didn't trust each other enough to let go because this strange new truce between them might not have lasted, but the fight was becoming more real as it progressed. Each attack was stronger than the last, and each parry or jump was quicker. Step by step, they were becoming more dangerous and using more complicated and difficult moves. If Harry had any spare time to think, he would have been astounded at his professor and would have recognised his style sooner.
Without realising it, and while dancing between the whirl of brown and silver blades, Harry and Snape moved through the doors and fought viciously for the advantage of going down the stairs after the other, and therefore not having to do it backwards.
By this time all semblance of control was gone, the fight was more graceful and elegant than it should have been because both men refused to let their emotions get in the way.
Harry threw Snape off-balance and dropped to the floor to sweep Snape's legs from under him. Snape managed to jump in time but was distracted while Harry regained his balance and aimed a slash at Snape's side. Snape anticipated it and moved aside using his cloak to mask his movement and-
"You-" Harry gasped for breath as he realised, then had to duck Snape's next attack "you were trained by the founders! But… how? You weren't chosen by them"
"The book." Snape jumped to avoid Harry's sword. Severus was moving faster than he thought he could, he was working so hard now to keep up with Harry that he wasn't sure how much longer he could stand it. "The book of belonging taught me this style, I could already fight."
Harry nodded and suddenly decided that there was no point in carrying on. He and Snape had done what Tom had wanted and more than that, it had achieved what Dumbledore had hoped for.
Harry was holding back a lot, he had thought that Snape was too, so when he started to move faster he half expected the potions master to do the same. There was less than a second between Harry deciding to stop holding himself back and Snape being sprawled out on the grass with Harry's sword pointed at him.
"And all that with a wooden sword." Snape said as Harry offered his hand.
They went back into the entrance hall together and Snape found that he could finally say what he had come to say.
"There's going to be an attack on Hogwarts."
All traces of the enjoyment and the fight were gone form Harry's eyes in a moment, and his alpha-self was back. "When?"
"After the ball tomorrow." Snape said.
"Ball?" Harry hadn't even known there was one.
"The headmaster announced it last week. It's a costume ball; an excuse to be armed and to keep the students in one place."