Harry Potter fanfic: Dropping in
Plot: This is no slash, so please don't read this expecting any. Anyway, Harry and Snape
get stranded together far away from Hogwarts school, in the wilderness, and basically
have to find their way back. Oh, and just for fun, they have to deal with a monster that's
been stranded with them and is hunting them down.
Rating: I rate this PG for a bit of violence, but that's about it. You can expect some
hurting to go on! Mostly physically.
*****THIS IS MY FIRST HARRY POTTER FANFIC: So I don't wanna see any flame
or anything, go easy, but please review so that I don't get discouraged and delete this
whole story [ it's happened before!]******
Oh yeah, I forgot the disclaimer...(sigh)
DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything that ever has or ever will have to do with Harry
Potter, right down to his hair, robes, owl, glasses, cars, uncle and aunt, cousin, teachers,
friends, Hagrid, Fang, Sirius, the school, the school grounds, the Forbidden Forest, the
lake, the Giant Squid, the merepeople, all the nasty bad guys, and all the crazy weather
that goes around!!!! Nope, none of it's mine, but I really wish it was!!! ;0)
[AHEM]
PS: this story is based on one I really like called 'Falling Skies' by Aldaj [ it's for a show
called Seven Days] So if anyone who's read that one sees similarities, that's why. There
will probably be a lot of similarities, but I'm sure Aldaj wouldn't mind.
Anyway, I hope you have a good time reading this fic!!!!
************************************************************************
Dropping In
It was a late fall day, a nice, quiet day. The colored leaves rippled easily in the cool wind
and the only real sounds to be heard were that of small woodland creatures. This was the
day that something weird happened in the forest.
Above the trees, where the white-clouded sky was easily visible, a bright blue light
flashed suddenly, sending all the little animals scattering to their homes. As the blue
colored light disappeared two figures fell, yelling, to the ground, followed by two loud
thumps.
All the darkness was nice and peaceful. It was engulfing and gave the feeling of space.
Harry was enjoying his restful, dreamless sleep. He'd have been happy to remain that way
for a little longer, but the consciousness began to come back to him.
"..Ugh..", he woke slowly, memories flooding back to him. His head hurt somewhere.
Then the sudden memory of what had happened before he blacked out came rushing back
to him. He sat up, going over the whole thing: being at the school, then a big blue light,
the feeling of flying without his broom, Professor Snape-
Where was Professor Snape?
Putting his glasses on, Harry sat up and looked around, the motion caused his head to
hurt. He put a hand to his temple and felt warm blood on his fingers. He stood up slowly
and looked around again.
Wherever he was, he was in a forest. The trees were thick and dense. He looked to where
he'd been laying and saw a mess of freshly broken branches littered the gound. Looking
up he figured he could've gotten stuck in a tree, if he hadn't have landed on a bunch of
thin branches and fallen to the ground.
It was probably the reason his head was cut.
"Professor?" He said out loud. He waited and listened, "Professor Snape?"
He couldn't see him anywhere on the ground. Then a small stick flew passed his face and
to the ground. He looked up and found Professor Snape and then did his best not to laugh.
"If you don't mind, Potter," Snape said, slightly annoyed, "I would very much like to get
down." Harry's Potions Master was stuck in a tree, his black robes hanging and torn all
around him.
"Yes sir," Harry said. He'd be able to get him down with the levitation spell. He searched
his robes for his wand... and he couldn't find it! He began frantically looking for it,
swishing his robes, even taking them off and shaking them, then check his jeans pockets,
down his shirt.. it was nowhere on him.
"Sometime today, Potter!" Snape snapped just as Harry searched the ground.
"M-..my wand, I can't find it!" Harry said, then he remembered; he'd left it in Gryffindor
house during lunch.
He ran a hand through his hair as Snape said, " Surely, Potter, even you know how to
climb a tree."
Harry decided to ignore that and looked up at the older man in the tree, "Well, can't you?
And what's stopping you from using your wand?"
Snape removed a flap of his robes to reveal his right arm, his spell-casting arm, which was
dangling freely, fully dislocated from it's socket.
Harry winced at the sight and just before Snape opened his mouth again he said, " Okay!
Never mind, I'm coming!"
Almost fifteen minutes had passed before they were back on the ground. Snape had yelled
and complained each time his limp arm touched or hit something, saying it was Harry's
fault.
When they reached the ground, Harry inspected his Professor's arm. It seemed pretty
simple, but when Harry reached for it, the older man backed away.
"Do you know what you're doing, Potter?" He asked cautiously.
Harry smiled slightly and placed his hands on Snape's arms, "Nope." And with a single
movement, shoved the arm back into place. Snape made a small yell, but that was it.
Before Snape could protest, Harry began tearing at his own robes and made a basic sling
for his arm.
His arm still hurt, but it felt much better in the sling instead of freely hanging, "Thank
you...Potter."
Harry looked up at him, he hadn't been expecting a thank you, "Uh.. no problem," he said
uncomfortably. Then he noticed that Snape was staring at Harry's face, and he
remembered the cut.
"It appears you have another scar, Potter," Snape said, not unkindly.
Harry put a hand to his face again and said "It's just a scratch, it's nothing." then he
looked about the trees around them, "but we should find a way out of here. Wherever we
are, we're nowhere near the school, that's for sure."
"Yes, this is no part of the Forbidden Forest," Snape said.
Harry held out his hand and said, "Pass me you're wand, Professor."
Snape hesitated, but he couldn't use his wand anyway, so he gave it to Harry from his left
hand.
Harry whispered "Point me" to it and the wand began to spin in his palm and stopped,
pointing left. "Well, that's the way to the school, but we should probably check to see if
there's anything closer than that."
He did it again, thinking of a road, train tracks, a village, anything that might be closer
than the school. After spinning a few seconds, it stopped, pointing straight away from him.
"So, something closer than the school is in that direction," Snape observed, " And we
have no idea what it is or how far it is."
"Yep," Harry said, handing Snape back his wand, "But, the faster we get out of here the
better. If we get to a town or something, we could work from there to get back to the
catsle."
As Harry said that, he couldn't help but wonder why the Potions Master didn't suggest
apparating back to the castle and leave him there. And why wasn't Snape bugging him the
way he usually did. Harry was almost ready to say that Snape was being nice... but not just
yet.
"Well, then, Potter, we'd better get moving," Snape said, turning in the direction his
wand had pointed and walking away.
"Yeah, sure," Harry said, walking off after his Professor, rubbing his head.
************************************************************************
"Anything yet, Albus?" Minerva McGonagall asked frantically, walking into the office of
the Headmaster of Hogwarts.
"I'm afraid not," Dumbledor replied, "No sign of the either of them. I've contacted the
Ministry and told them what we know." He looked up at Professor McGonagall's face and
saw the extreme worry on her face, "Now, now, Minerva, it's only been a couple of hours
now, they'll be fine."
"Oh, Albus, I'm more worried about the fact that the two are together. You know how
Severus...gets around Harry."
Dumbledor nodded slowly, chuckling lightly, "Yes, I know. But you must remember that
he knows he is still Harry's Professor and he will act as such." Professpor McGonagall
nodded, "Now if you could please ask the rest of our staff to search the grounds, except
for Hagrid of course, tell him to take Fang into the Forest. Tell them to search until
they're sure the two are not here."
Just as McGonagall nodded and turned to leave, he said, "Oh, and if you could please call
Ms.Granger and Mr. Weasly up to my office, Minerva, I believe they were with Harry
when this mess began."
************************************************************************
CRUUUUNCH!
"What was that?" Harry asked.
They hadn't even been walking ten minutes when they both heard what sounded like large
trees being uprooted. Either that or broken in half.
"I don't know, Potter," Snape said, searching for the source of the sound.
CRUUUUUUUNNNCH!
"But whatever it is, it sounds like it's getting closer."
Harry hated how his voice was calm and silky and sort of cold, despite what was
happening. Had the Professor always been monotone or did his voice only change when he
was angry?
" Should we hide?" Harry asked frantically.
"Yes, I think so," Snape said, he searched for a good hiding place but found none. Then
they heard it again, five times louder than it had been before.
Harry rushed over to Snape's side and whispered, " There it is, I see it's shadow." And it
was no small shadow, judging from what they could see, it was roughly the size of the
Troll Harry'd seen in first year.
Harry accidentally tugged on Snape's right arm and mumbled "Sorry", after Snape hissed
in pain.
They ran to a large tree and got behind it just as the huge creature came into view. It was
a Knoll.
Knolls are huge creatures that resemble a humanoid wolves standing upright on their hind
legs, usually carrying a weapon. This one had blue fur and a nasty snarl to it's snout.
Harry saw the weapon it carried: a battle ax with a handle about as tall as Harry and a
large blade that glinted brightly. The monster's black eyes searched the small clearing,
squinting at the trees while it walked slowly passed.
Snape nudged Harry along and they moved around the tree as the monster moved passed
them to keep out of sight. After holding in his breath the whole time he'd seen it, Harry
slowly exhaled as the Knoll crashed out of sight without stopping.
They remained still and quiet until they heard the crashes fade away.
"Do you know what that was, Potter?" Snape asked in a tone that suggested they were in
class and he was giving a quiz.
"Um.." Harry said breathlessly, "Yeah, it was Knoll. Professer Lupin mentioned them
once last year."
He watched Snape's long nose wrinkle slightly in slight disgust at the sound of Lupin's
name, "Well then, you should know how urgent it is that we keep moving." and with that,
he covered his slung arm with his robes again and began walking in the direction they were
supposed to go.
Harry knew what Knolls were supposed to be like; vicious killers that were always hungry
and ate just about everything that moved. They weren't even sociable or friendly with their
own kind. So Harry didn't hesitate to keep up with Snape.
************************************************************************
Hermoine and Ron were waiting for Dumbledor in his office.
"Hey! Fawkes!" Ron exclaimed at the beautiful Phoenix who sat across the room. Ron
hadn't seen the bird since the end of second year.
He strode over and pat the bird's back.
"I wonder what he wants us for," he said to Hermione, who was standing and looking
around the amazing office.
"Probably to ask us about what happened to Harry and Professor Snape," she responded,
"We saw what happened..." she spoke softly and slowly.
"Yeah, but what happened anyway?" Ron said.
Hermione shot him a look, "I mean what kind of spell could it have been?" he added
hastily, "Some of the teachers even saw it and they're still baffled."
"I've never seen a blue light quite like that in a spell before. It just appeared around them
and they were gone," Hermione said. Then a worried expression came to her face, "Oh, I
wonder where Harry is?"
Ron walked over to her side, " I don't know, but he's probably okay. I mean, he's with
Snape after all, the only person who could scare away a crowd of goblins with a single,
evil glare."
Hermione smiled thinking of how Ron was always the one who accused Snape of trying
to kill Harry.
"Besides," Ron said with a smile, "Whatever happened probably got Harry out of an
earful. When Snape was talking to him, he sure looked miffed about something."
They heard the door opening and turned to see Dumbledor enter the room.
************************************************************************
((A few hours later))
Snape was thoroughly impressed with Harry. After a day of walking at a fairly fast pace,
he himself was quite tired. Harry had borrowed his wand to search for food after making a
fire for Snape to keep warm.
"Should we have a fire?" Harry had asked, "Won't it attract the Knoll back?"
Snape guaranteed that Knolls had horrible eyesight and hearing, despite their wolf ears, so
they always hunted during the day, they would just have to keep the fire small to keep the
smell of smoke to a minimum.
As he sat there on an old log with his good hand to the fire [ it had gotten quite cold after
sunset] Snape thought about being stuck out in the woods with a person he hated. Well,
ONE of the people he hated anyway.
Maybe it was the environment, the fact that they weren't surrounded by people. Being
only himself and Potter didn't make it necessary for him to worry about his reputation
he'd built for himself over the years. He loved being feared by the students and some of
the teachers, because with that feeling came respect. He'd been acting that way for so long
now that he didn't know any other way to earn people's respect.
He figured how he acted didn't matter much anyway. What really mattered was getting
out of the strange forest and himself and Harry healed. He'd been noticing the cut on the
boy's head was looking worse before they conjured the fire.
His heart gave a great jump when he heard rustling behind him. He turned to see Harry
carrying two small and dead animals and his wand.
"There, that didn't take long," Harry said, each word came out with fogged air.
After Harry gave Snape his wand back he cooked the meat he'd just captured.
Snape, who couldn't really help with the dirty work half-expected Harry to be reluctant to
skin and cook the animals. When Harry saw the look on his Professor's face he said,
"Armadillo bile," Harry explained, "Once you get over dealing with that stuff I think it's
impossible to be squeamish about anything."
Snape gave a short chuckle, " I'm actually surprised none of the students vomited over
that lesson. Not even Longbottom."
Harry was about to say something to defend Neville, but decided against it, " I think your
lessons must tend to desensitize."
"That's true," Snape nodded, the light from the fire actually softened the features of his
face, " But just wait until you're sixth year, there are some things that even make me..
'grossed out' as you might say."
Harry laughed but he couldn't believe this! He was having a good time with Snape,
Professor Snape, Severus Snape, whatever!
'Well' Harry supposed, 'At least it's a good time and he's not on my back all the time.'
"So, how is your arm doing?" he asked.
"It's fine, Potter," Snape responded shortly, apparently uncomfortable with talking about
his own injuries to a student.
'Well, some things will never change I guess,' Harry thought.
After they ate they settled down to sleep. Snape charmed to fire to last all night and keep
them warm.
((Morning))
The morning sun shone brightly just over the trees, golden strands of light filtered
through the trees.
Crumpled leaves fell all around.
Harry and Snape were just waking up and getting ready to move out for another day of
walking.
Harry put out the fire then stretched and yawned, the whole time, Snape was watching
him closely. "What?" Harry asked when he noticed Snape's staring.
" That's not a cut," Snape said pointing at Harry's temple, where the cut on his head had
turned into an ugly colored lump, "You hit your head, didn't you?"
"Well... I don't know," Harry fidgeted, Snape staring at him made him uncomfortable, as
it always did, "Whatever happened knocked me out, remember? I probably hit it falling
through those tree branches. What does it matter anyway, we should get going."
Snape didn't move and didn't speak. He knew that anyone with a head injury weren't
supposed to sleep, but before Harry's cut hadn't seemed do bad.
Suddenly he heard Harry gasp, saw him run towards him, knock him to the ground, and
gasped in pain from his arm. Then he saw a flash of a huge blade, a flash of blue, and then
a loud roaring growl.
The Knoll had snuck up on them.
As the monster turned and swung his ax again, Harry pushed Snape aside and rolled out
of the way. SHING! The Knoll's ax struck the forest floor and sank in deep. The
monster struggled to pull it out.
Harry took the opportunity to get to Snape, who was pulling himself up near a tree.
"Come on! Let's go!" Harry yelled, before Snape pushed him aside, in time to avoid the
Knoll's claws from swiping at Harry. The Knoll's ax was still stuck in the ground, after it
missed Harry, it went back to trying to pull it out.
Harry got back up and went to Snape, "Give me your wand!"
Snape looked at him, "Potter, you can't poss-"
"I have an idea," Harry yelled, cutting him off, " Give it to me NOW!" Snape gave it to
Harry, not quite knowing what to say, "Okay good, get behind the tree!"
Harry turned back to the monster, who was looking at him, snarling, but seemed intent on
getting it's ax un-stuck. That was fin with Harry, that's what he needed for the levitation
spell.
Finally, with a powerful jerk, the ax was free. Harry got ready to cast the spell, but the
Knoll took a fast swing at him, missing him, and he fell over a tree root. Harry's breath
caught in his throat as the Knoll used the momentum from his miss and swung his ax down
again at Harry's mid section, and missed him only by centimeters, slicing through his
robes.
The monster's weapon only missed because Snape had managed to trip it by pushing a
large branch in it's way. A loud, frustrated howl, loud enough to make the ground rumble
emitted from the monster.
It turned on Snape, forgetting it's weapon on the ground by Harry's side.
Harry sat up and saw the Knoll going after Snape, there was no way Snape could defend
himself against it! Harry stood and waved his arms, yelling, thinking of things Ron would
say to get someone's attention, "Hey! Ugly!" The Knoll stopped and turned towards him.
Harry saw Snape get safely behind a tree, "Yeah, you! Get you're little fluffy tail over
here!" The Knoll snarled, bared it's teeth and stalked slowly towards him, it's fur raised
high upon it's back, making it look even bigger than before.
'That's close enough' Harry thought. He pointed his wand at the ax exclaiming
"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" and the weapon lifted swiftly from the ground. 'A little
higher..litlle higher..'
He looked down from the floating ax, just in time to see a large, blue paw fly past his
body, then he felt pain and he stumbled backward.
The spell being broken, the ax fell from the air, directly upon it's wielder...and through
it's skull.
The Knoll made no noise, except for the rumbling crash that followed as it fell to the
ground.
Snape rushed over to Harry "Is it dead?" the boy asked. Snape nodded.
"Not exactly what I had in mind," Harry said, "I just tried to knock it ou-ow!" Harry
clutched at his side and doubled over to his knees.
"What is it?"
Harry pulled open his torn robes and saw that his shirt was full of fresh blood and more
was coming out from the wound in his side.
"You've already lost a lot of blood," Snape observed.
"It's nothing," Harry said lightly, ripping one of the sleeves on his robes. When he was
done that, he wrapped the black bandage firmly around his torso, " Actually now that I'[m
doing this, do you think your sling needs a change?"
After Snape said no he paused for a few minutes and then got up, "Okay, we should get
going,"he talked quickly to keep Snape from protesting, "With the Knoll um... out of our
way, we shouldn't have much trouble anymore, right?"
He turned and walked off.
"Right," Snape said, going after him. He turned quickly and looked at the Knoll, amazed
that a student had done such a thing. Then again, he had heard of the boy doing greater
things than accidentally kill a Knoll.
((Later that day))
"Professor, wait..."
Snape, alarmed at the urgency in the young boy's voice turned quickly and saw Harry
leaning up against a tree, hands on his knees.
"Are you okay?" He asked. The temperature couldn't have been anything above ten
degrees Celsius, but Harry was sweating as if he'd been running for miles in the dead of
the summer.
"Yeah," Harry said, he swallowed, " I ... just need to rest a minute."
Snape could see that the bandage under his robes were wet with blood. And when he
looked Harry's head, he couldn't help but notice the bump on his temple a gained a few
different colors and looked painful.
"Okay," Harry said suddenly, standing upright, "Time to go."
"Stop, Potter," Snape said, Harry turned to face him, "You need to rest."
"Look, the faster we get out of here, the better, right? Resting when we don't need to will
only waste time." And with that Harry yet again began to walk in the other direction.
Snape would have protested, but gave up before he tried. He knew it wouldn't work, the
boy was to damned stubborn. And Snape without the ability to use his wand, there was
nothing he could do to stop Harry.
***Whoo! Okay, I just spent hours writinf that tiny part, so you'd better like it!! I started
at 2 in the afternoon it is now 12:37 PM.. So good night, please read ...[Yawnnnnn]... and
review. You know how it goes. I realize that Harry and Snape aren't acting like they're
usual selves, and I didn't mean to do that, but remember it's my first Harry Potter fanfic,
okay?****
Night!
Plot: This is no slash, so please don't read this expecting any. Anyway, Harry and Snape
get stranded together far away from Hogwarts school, in the wilderness, and basically
have to find their way back. Oh, and just for fun, they have to deal with a monster that's
been stranded with them and is hunting them down.
Rating: I rate this PG for a bit of violence, but that's about it. You can expect some
hurting to go on! Mostly physically.
*****THIS IS MY FIRST HARRY POTTER FANFIC: So I don't wanna see any flame
or anything, go easy, but please review so that I don't get discouraged and delete this
whole story [ it's happened before!]******
Oh yeah, I forgot the disclaimer...(sigh)
DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything that ever has or ever will have to do with Harry
Potter, right down to his hair, robes, owl, glasses, cars, uncle and aunt, cousin, teachers,
friends, Hagrid, Fang, Sirius, the school, the school grounds, the Forbidden Forest, the
lake, the Giant Squid, the merepeople, all the nasty bad guys, and all the crazy weather
that goes around!!!! Nope, none of it's mine, but I really wish it was!!! ;0)
[AHEM]
PS: this story is based on one I really like called 'Falling Skies' by Aldaj [ it's for a show
called Seven Days] So if anyone who's read that one sees similarities, that's why. There
will probably be a lot of similarities, but I'm sure Aldaj wouldn't mind.
Anyway, I hope you have a good time reading this fic!!!!
************************************************************************
Dropping In
It was a late fall day, a nice, quiet day. The colored leaves rippled easily in the cool wind
and the only real sounds to be heard were that of small woodland creatures. This was the
day that something weird happened in the forest.
Above the trees, where the white-clouded sky was easily visible, a bright blue light
flashed suddenly, sending all the little animals scattering to their homes. As the blue
colored light disappeared two figures fell, yelling, to the ground, followed by two loud
thumps.
All the darkness was nice and peaceful. It was engulfing and gave the feeling of space.
Harry was enjoying his restful, dreamless sleep. He'd have been happy to remain that way
for a little longer, but the consciousness began to come back to him.
"..Ugh..", he woke slowly, memories flooding back to him. His head hurt somewhere.
Then the sudden memory of what had happened before he blacked out came rushing back
to him. He sat up, going over the whole thing: being at the school, then a big blue light,
the feeling of flying without his broom, Professor Snape-
Where was Professor Snape?
Putting his glasses on, Harry sat up and looked around, the motion caused his head to
hurt. He put a hand to his temple and felt warm blood on his fingers. He stood up slowly
and looked around again.
Wherever he was, he was in a forest. The trees were thick and dense. He looked to where
he'd been laying and saw a mess of freshly broken branches littered the gound. Looking
up he figured he could've gotten stuck in a tree, if he hadn't have landed on a bunch of
thin branches and fallen to the ground.
It was probably the reason his head was cut.
"Professor?" He said out loud. He waited and listened, "Professor Snape?"
He couldn't see him anywhere on the ground. Then a small stick flew passed his face and
to the ground. He looked up and found Professor Snape and then did his best not to laugh.
"If you don't mind, Potter," Snape said, slightly annoyed, "I would very much like to get
down." Harry's Potions Master was stuck in a tree, his black robes hanging and torn all
around him.
"Yes sir," Harry said. He'd be able to get him down with the levitation spell. He searched
his robes for his wand... and he couldn't find it! He began frantically looking for it,
swishing his robes, even taking them off and shaking them, then check his jeans pockets,
down his shirt.. it was nowhere on him.
"Sometime today, Potter!" Snape snapped just as Harry searched the ground.
"M-..my wand, I can't find it!" Harry said, then he remembered; he'd left it in Gryffindor
house during lunch.
He ran a hand through his hair as Snape said, " Surely, Potter, even you know how to
climb a tree."
Harry decided to ignore that and looked up at the older man in the tree, "Well, can't you?
And what's stopping you from using your wand?"
Snape removed a flap of his robes to reveal his right arm, his spell-casting arm, which was
dangling freely, fully dislocated from it's socket.
Harry winced at the sight and just before Snape opened his mouth again he said, " Okay!
Never mind, I'm coming!"
Almost fifteen minutes had passed before they were back on the ground. Snape had yelled
and complained each time his limp arm touched or hit something, saying it was Harry's
fault.
When they reached the ground, Harry inspected his Professor's arm. It seemed pretty
simple, but when Harry reached for it, the older man backed away.
"Do you know what you're doing, Potter?" He asked cautiously.
Harry smiled slightly and placed his hands on Snape's arms, "Nope." And with a single
movement, shoved the arm back into place. Snape made a small yell, but that was it.
Before Snape could protest, Harry began tearing at his own robes and made a basic sling
for his arm.
His arm still hurt, but it felt much better in the sling instead of freely hanging, "Thank
you...Potter."
Harry looked up at him, he hadn't been expecting a thank you, "Uh.. no problem," he said
uncomfortably. Then he noticed that Snape was staring at Harry's face, and he
remembered the cut.
"It appears you have another scar, Potter," Snape said, not unkindly.
Harry put a hand to his face again and said "It's just a scratch, it's nothing." then he
looked about the trees around them, "but we should find a way out of here. Wherever we
are, we're nowhere near the school, that's for sure."
"Yes, this is no part of the Forbidden Forest," Snape said.
Harry held out his hand and said, "Pass me you're wand, Professor."
Snape hesitated, but he couldn't use his wand anyway, so he gave it to Harry from his left
hand.
Harry whispered "Point me" to it and the wand began to spin in his palm and stopped,
pointing left. "Well, that's the way to the school, but we should probably check to see if
there's anything closer than that."
He did it again, thinking of a road, train tracks, a village, anything that might be closer
than the school. After spinning a few seconds, it stopped, pointing straight away from him.
"So, something closer than the school is in that direction," Snape observed, " And we
have no idea what it is or how far it is."
"Yep," Harry said, handing Snape back his wand, "But, the faster we get out of here the
better. If we get to a town or something, we could work from there to get back to the
catsle."
As Harry said that, he couldn't help but wonder why the Potions Master didn't suggest
apparating back to the castle and leave him there. And why wasn't Snape bugging him the
way he usually did. Harry was almost ready to say that Snape was being nice... but not just
yet.
"Well, then, Potter, we'd better get moving," Snape said, turning in the direction his
wand had pointed and walking away.
"Yeah, sure," Harry said, walking off after his Professor, rubbing his head.
************************************************************************
"Anything yet, Albus?" Minerva McGonagall asked frantically, walking into the office of
the Headmaster of Hogwarts.
"I'm afraid not," Dumbledor replied, "No sign of the either of them. I've contacted the
Ministry and told them what we know." He looked up at Professor McGonagall's face and
saw the extreme worry on her face, "Now, now, Minerva, it's only been a couple of hours
now, they'll be fine."
"Oh, Albus, I'm more worried about the fact that the two are together. You know how
Severus...gets around Harry."
Dumbledor nodded slowly, chuckling lightly, "Yes, I know. But you must remember that
he knows he is still Harry's Professor and he will act as such." Professpor McGonagall
nodded, "Now if you could please ask the rest of our staff to search the grounds, except
for Hagrid of course, tell him to take Fang into the Forest. Tell them to search until
they're sure the two are not here."
Just as McGonagall nodded and turned to leave, he said, "Oh, and if you could please call
Ms.Granger and Mr. Weasly up to my office, Minerva, I believe they were with Harry
when this mess began."
************************************************************************
CRUUUUNCH!
"What was that?" Harry asked.
They hadn't even been walking ten minutes when they both heard what sounded like large
trees being uprooted. Either that or broken in half.
"I don't know, Potter," Snape said, searching for the source of the sound.
CRUUUUUUUNNNCH!
"But whatever it is, it sounds like it's getting closer."
Harry hated how his voice was calm and silky and sort of cold, despite what was
happening. Had the Professor always been monotone or did his voice only change when he
was angry?
" Should we hide?" Harry asked frantically.
"Yes, I think so," Snape said, he searched for a good hiding place but found none. Then
they heard it again, five times louder than it had been before.
Harry rushed over to Snape's side and whispered, " There it is, I see it's shadow." And it
was no small shadow, judging from what they could see, it was roughly the size of the
Troll Harry'd seen in first year.
Harry accidentally tugged on Snape's right arm and mumbled "Sorry", after Snape hissed
in pain.
They ran to a large tree and got behind it just as the huge creature came into view. It was
a Knoll.
Knolls are huge creatures that resemble a humanoid wolves standing upright on their hind
legs, usually carrying a weapon. This one had blue fur and a nasty snarl to it's snout.
Harry saw the weapon it carried: a battle ax with a handle about as tall as Harry and a
large blade that glinted brightly. The monster's black eyes searched the small clearing,
squinting at the trees while it walked slowly passed.
Snape nudged Harry along and they moved around the tree as the monster moved passed
them to keep out of sight. After holding in his breath the whole time he'd seen it, Harry
slowly exhaled as the Knoll crashed out of sight without stopping.
They remained still and quiet until they heard the crashes fade away.
"Do you know what that was, Potter?" Snape asked in a tone that suggested they were in
class and he was giving a quiz.
"Um.." Harry said breathlessly, "Yeah, it was Knoll. Professer Lupin mentioned them
once last year."
He watched Snape's long nose wrinkle slightly in slight disgust at the sound of Lupin's
name, "Well then, you should know how urgent it is that we keep moving." and with that,
he covered his slung arm with his robes again and began walking in the direction they were
supposed to go.
Harry knew what Knolls were supposed to be like; vicious killers that were always hungry
and ate just about everything that moved. They weren't even sociable or friendly with their
own kind. So Harry didn't hesitate to keep up with Snape.
************************************************************************
Hermoine and Ron were waiting for Dumbledor in his office.
"Hey! Fawkes!" Ron exclaimed at the beautiful Phoenix who sat across the room. Ron
hadn't seen the bird since the end of second year.
He strode over and pat the bird's back.
"I wonder what he wants us for," he said to Hermione, who was standing and looking
around the amazing office.
"Probably to ask us about what happened to Harry and Professor Snape," she responded,
"We saw what happened..." she spoke softly and slowly.
"Yeah, but what happened anyway?" Ron said.
Hermione shot him a look, "I mean what kind of spell could it have been?" he added
hastily, "Some of the teachers even saw it and they're still baffled."
"I've never seen a blue light quite like that in a spell before. It just appeared around them
and they were gone," Hermione said. Then a worried expression came to her face, "Oh, I
wonder where Harry is?"
Ron walked over to her side, " I don't know, but he's probably okay. I mean, he's with
Snape after all, the only person who could scare away a crowd of goblins with a single,
evil glare."
Hermione smiled thinking of how Ron was always the one who accused Snape of trying
to kill Harry.
"Besides," Ron said with a smile, "Whatever happened probably got Harry out of an
earful. When Snape was talking to him, he sure looked miffed about something."
They heard the door opening and turned to see Dumbledor enter the room.
************************************************************************
((A few hours later))
Snape was thoroughly impressed with Harry. After a day of walking at a fairly fast pace,
he himself was quite tired. Harry had borrowed his wand to search for food after making a
fire for Snape to keep warm.
"Should we have a fire?" Harry had asked, "Won't it attract the Knoll back?"
Snape guaranteed that Knolls had horrible eyesight and hearing, despite their wolf ears, so
they always hunted during the day, they would just have to keep the fire small to keep the
smell of smoke to a minimum.
As he sat there on an old log with his good hand to the fire [ it had gotten quite cold after
sunset] Snape thought about being stuck out in the woods with a person he hated. Well,
ONE of the people he hated anyway.
Maybe it was the environment, the fact that they weren't surrounded by people. Being
only himself and Potter didn't make it necessary for him to worry about his reputation
he'd built for himself over the years. He loved being feared by the students and some of
the teachers, because with that feeling came respect. He'd been acting that way for so long
now that he didn't know any other way to earn people's respect.
He figured how he acted didn't matter much anyway. What really mattered was getting
out of the strange forest and himself and Harry healed. He'd been noticing the cut on the
boy's head was looking worse before they conjured the fire.
His heart gave a great jump when he heard rustling behind him. He turned to see Harry
carrying two small and dead animals and his wand.
"There, that didn't take long," Harry said, each word came out with fogged air.
After Harry gave Snape his wand back he cooked the meat he'd just captured.
Snape, who couldn't really help with the dirty work half-expected Harry to be reluctant to
skin and cook the animals. When Harry saw the look on his Professor's face he said,
"Armadillo bile," Harry explained, "Once you get over dealing with that stuff I think it's
impossible to be squeamish about anything."
Snape gave a short chuckle, " I'm actually surprised none of the students vomited over
that lesson. Not even Longbottom."
Harry was about to say something to defend Neville, but decided against it, " I think your
lessons must tend to desensitize."
"That's true," Snape nodded, the light from the fire actually softened the features of his
face, " But just wait until you're sixth year, there are some things that even make me..
'grossed out' as you might say."
Harry laughed but he couldn't believe this! He was having a good time with Snape,
Professor Snape, Severus Snape, whatever!
'Well' Harry supposed, 'At least it's a good time and he's not on my back all the time.'
"So, how is your arm doing?" he asked.
"It's fine, Potter," Snape responded shortly, apparently uncomfortable with talking about
his own injuries to a student.
'Well, some things will never change I guess,' Harry thought.
After they ate they settled down to sleep. Snape charmed to fire to last all night and keep
them warm.
((Morning))
The morning sun shone brightly just over the trees, golden strands of light filtered
through the trees.
Crumpled leaves fell all around.
Harry and Snape were just waking up and getting ready to move out for another day of
walking.
Harry put out the fire then stretched and yawned, the whole time, Snape was watching
him closely. "What?" Harry asked when he noticed Snape's staring.
" That's not a cut," Snape said pointing at Harry's temple, where the cut on his head had
turned into an ugly colored lump, "You hit your head, didn't you?"
"Well... I don't know," Harry fidgeted, Snape staring at him made him uncomfortable, as
it always did, "Whatever happened knocked me out, remember? I probably hit it falling
through those tree branches. What does it matter anyway, we should get going."
Snape didn't move and didn't speak. He knew that anyone with a head injury weren't
supposed to sleep, but before Harry's cut hadn't seemed do bad.
Suddenly he heard Harry gasp, saw him run towards him, knock him to the ground, and
gasped in pain from his arm. Then he saw a flash of a huge blade, a flash of blue, and then
a loud roaring growl.
The Knoll had snuck up on them.
As the monster turned and swung his ax again, Harry pushed Snape aside and rolled out
of the way. SHING! The Knoll's ax struck the forest floor and sank in deep. The
monster struggled to pull it out.
Harry took the opportunity to get to Snape, who was pulling himself up near a tree.
"Come on! Let's go!" Harry yelled, before Snape pushed him aside, in time to avoid the
Knoll's claws from swiping at Harry. The Knoll's ax was still stuck in the ground, after it
missed Harry, it went back to trying to pull it out.
Harry got back up and went to Snape, "Give me your wand!"
Snape looked at him, "Potter, you can't poss-"
"I have an idea," Harry yelled, cutting him off, " Give it to me NOW!" Snape gave it to
Harry, not quite knowing what to say, "Okay good, get behind the tree!"
Harry turned back to the monster, who was looking at him, snarling, but seemed intent on
getting it's ax un-stuck. That was fin with Harry, that's what he needed for the levitation
spell.
Finally, with a powerful jerk, the ax was free. Harry got ready to cast the spell, but the
Knoll took a fast swing at him, missing him, and he fell over a tree root. Harry's breath
caught in his throat as the Knoll used the momentum from his miss and swung his ax down
again at Harry's mid section, and missed him only by centimeters, slicing through his
robes.
The monster's weapon only missed because Snape had managed to trip it by pushing a
large branch in it's way. A loud, frustrated howl, loud enough to make the ground rumble
emitted from the monster.
It turned on Snape, forgetting it's weapon on the ground by Harry's side.
Harry sat up and saw the Knoll going after Snape, there was no way Snape could defend
himself against it! Harry stood and waved his arms, yelling, thinking of things Ron would
say to get someone's attention, "Hey! Ugly!" The Knoll stopped and turned towards him.
Harry saw Snape get safely behind a tree, "Yeah, you! Get you're little fluffy tail over
here!" The Knoll snarled, bared it's teeth and stalked slowly towards him, it's fur raised
high upon it's back, making it look even bigger than before.
'That's close enough' Harry thought. He pointed his wand at the ax exclaiming
"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" and the weapon lifted swiftly from the ground. 'A little
higher..litlle higher..'
He looked down from the floating ax, just in time to see a large, blue paw fly past his
body, then he felt pain and he stumbled backward.
The spell being broken, the ax fell from the air, directly upon it's wielder...and through
it's skull.
The Knoll made no noise, except for the rumbling crash that followed as it fell to the
ground.
Snape rushed over to Harry "Is it dead?" the boy asked. Snape nodded.
"Not exactly what I had in mind," Harry said, "I just tried to knock it ou-ow!" Harry
clutched at his side and doubled over to his knees.
"What is it?"
Harry pulled open his torn robes and saw that his shirt was full of fresh blood and more
was coming out from the wound in his side.
"You've already lost a lot of blood," Snape observed.
"It's nothing," Harry said lightly, ripping one of the sleeves on his robes. When he was
done that, he wrapped the black bandage firmly around his torso, " Actually now that I'[m
doing this, do you think your sling needs a change?"
After Snape said no he paused for a few minutes and then got up, "Okay, we should get
going,"he talked quickly to keep Snape from protesting, "With the Knoll um... out of our
way, we shouldn't have much trouble anymore, right?"
He turned and walked off.
"Right," Snape said, going after him. He turned quickly and looked at the Knoll, amazed
that a student had done such a thing. Then again, he had heard of the boy doing greater
things than accidentally kill a Knoll.
((Later that day))
"Professor, wait..."
Snape, alarmed at the urgency in the young boy's voice turned quickly and saw Harry
leaning up against a tree, hands on his knees.
"Are you okay?" He asked. The temperature couldn't have been anything above ten
degrees Celsius, but Harry was sweating as if he'd been running for miles in the dead of
the summer.
"Yeah," Harry said, he swallowed, " I ... just need to rest a minute."
Snape could see that the bandage under his robes were wet with blood. And when he
looked Harry's head, he couldn't help but notice the bump on his temple a gained a few
different colors and looked painful.
"Okay," Harry said suddenly, standing upright, "Time to go."
"Stop, Potter," Snape said, Harry turned to face him, "You need to rest."
"Look, the faster we get out of here, the better, right? Resting when we don't need to will
only waste time." And with that Harry yet again began to walk in the other direction.
Snape would have protested, but gave up before he tried. He knew it wouldn't work, the
boy was to damned stubborn. And Snape without the ability to use his wand, there was
nothing he could do to stop Harry.
***Whoo! Okay, I just spent hours writinf that tiny part, so you'd better like it!! I started
at 2 in the afternoon it is now 12:37 PM.. So good night, please read ...[Yawnnnnn]... and
review. You know how it goes. I realize that Harry and Snape aren't acting like they're
usual selves, and I didn't mean to do that, but remember it's my first Harry Potter fanfic,
okay?****
Night!