AN: *sheepishly cuts down the sack containing her Muses* I'm sorry! Please
forgive me! *gets down on her knees and begs abjectly for forgiveness* I
swear I'll never do it again. Anything to prevent SilverWolf from donking
me over the head again.
And now comes the time when I thank my reviewers again:
Nicky: no response to the uncle Sev thing.... I've never actually read the Severitus' challenge. What I know of it, I picked up from the stories in response to it. So, no this isn't *strictly* a Severitus' challenge fic.
SilverWolf: I promise to treat my Muses better from now on! More on the wizard-mark is up coming....
zaksgirllol: I'm glad you like my concept and I don't think I could stop if I tried
Lee Lee Potter: another of my regular reviewers along with Littletiger, Silverwolf and Silvermoon. Luvre you all. Anyways, I've stopped whining now, I got some sleep and I wrote you TWO more chapters
Elektra Joradees Gamblin: I haven't managed to get rid of my Muses yet. I'm just hiding out.
Silvermoon: You ask, I deliver.
Glipp: It always gives me a kick when reviewers say they like my fics! Thankyou.
And, now, with no further ado, I give you chapters six and seven.....
*drums roll and trumpets blare*
Chapter Six: The Golden Trio rides again
This particular Saturday morning found Harry sitting on the steps leading up to Hogwarts' grand entrance. His hands were empty and his eyes were focused on the distant gate. He had been back at the castle for eight days now. It had been five days since Professor Snape had woken up, four days since Remus Lupin had arrived and it was exactly one week until Harry's fifteenth birthday.
And Harry was waiting. Waiting for the gate to swing open and admit one of Hogwarts' multitude of horseless carriages.
Just that morning at breakfast, Dumbledore had informed Harry that he had taken the liberty of inviting Ron and Hermione to stay at the school for the two weeks on either side of Harry's birthday. Harry had been ecstatic and ever since, he had been sitting on the hard stone of the steps, even though his friends weren't due to arrive until lunchtime.
Various people had whiled away a short time with Harry as he waited. Hagrid's great boarhound, Fang had shoved his blunt head under Harry's hand demanding caress at one point, but even he had eventually wandered off, leaving Harry alone and still waiting.
At long last, just as the grandfather clock in the entrance hall struck the hour as a quarter to twelve, the gates creaked open in the distant and a horseless carriage started on its way up the drive. Even from that distance, Harry could spy the red head sticking out the window, waving madly, until suddenly it was wrenched back.
Harry laughed. He was willing to bet Hermione had just pulled Ron back down and was now berating him for hanging so dangerously out the window. Harry got to his feet and dusted off his pants. He descended the flight of stairs, waiting at their bottom for the carriage to come to a stop.
The door burst open and Ron leapt from the interior before the coach even had a chance to halt.
'Oi, Harry mate!' he enthusiastically thumped Harry on the back, 'How weird is it to be back at Hogwarts in the summer?'
Harry grinned at his best friend, 'It'll be better now that you and 'Mione are here.'
He turned back to the carriage to greet Hermione and was just in time to receive the heavy bag she cast at him. He staggered under the weight.
'Hermione! What in Merlin's name is in this thing?'
Hermione was lugging another bag out of the carriage only slightly smaller than the one in Harry's arms.
'Hullo Harry. It's good to see you.'
'It's good to see you too,' Harry grimaced, 'About the bag?'
'It's my school books,' behind Harry, Ron made a choking sound. Hermione glared at him, 'I figured if I was going to be at Hogwarts, I should take advantage of the library.'
Harry and Ron gaped at her and said in identical voices, 'Hermione!'
Ron continued, ''Mione, it's the holidays! You're not meant to be worrying about school work!'
Hermione rolled her eyes and dumped her bag in Ron's arms, 'Just because *I* want good marks in the O.W.Ls next year. Besides,' she said as she started up the steps, 'I'm almost finished. There're only a couple of things I want to check on.'
Harry and Ron rolled their eyes at each other and followed their friend up the steps and into the school.
That evening, Ron and Harry were sitting in the middle of Harry's bed playing a game of wizarding chess. Hermione had disappeared halfway through the afternoon, and since both boys suspected she was in the library, neither was game to try and find her. They knew she would emerge some time later, her thirst for learning temporarily quenched. When she did, she would seek them out and they could get on with the business of catching up.
Until then, the two Gryffindor boys were spending their time playing chess. That is to say, Harry was spending his time being thoroughly trounced by Ron.
At that moment, one of Ron's pawns - a pawn, for Merlin's sake! - was - quite politely for a wizarding chess set - carrying Harry's white king to the edge of the board and tipping it off before quite smugly dusting its hands.
Harry threw up *his* hands in defeat. That had been his worst loss yet. Ron was gathering up his pieces and Harry could tell he was about to propose another game. Harry was madly scrambling for some excuse not to play when the door swung open and Hermione came in.
Harry bounced off the bed and over to her side.
'Hermione! Where have you been?'
Both Ron and Hermione sent him odd looks for his enthusiasm, but Harry ignored them.
'I was in the library. *Someone*,' Hermione glared at Harry, 'left a heap of books on one of the tables and I had to find where they went.'
Harry grinned at her, unabashed. Although, when he slid a quick glance at Hermione's bag as it sat by his door, it seemed to be bulging just a little more. He would lay good odds that Hermione had borrowed several of those books for some 'light reading'.
'Anyway, enough about me,' Hermione plonked herself down on the bed next to Ron, 'We want to here why you're at Hogwarts for the summer. Dumbledore didn't say anything in the letter.'
Ron placed the chessboard and pieces on the night table and sat up, adding his agreement to Hermione's.
'Yeah, what's going on?'
Harry had known this was coming. In fact, he was surprised they had held off so long. He had been expecting the question to be the first thing out of their mouths when they had arrived earlier in the day. Nevertheless, Harry sighed long-sufferingly. His theatrics gained him no sympathy from his friends, who both continued to regard him with identical stoic expressions.
'Fine,' Harry threw up his hands in exasperation, 'Shove over and I'll tell you.'
Hermione and Ron made room for Harry and he settled himself on the bed before looking back at his friends.
'There's not really much to tell. Dumbledore turned up at Privet Drive last Friday, just as the Dursleys were sitting down for tea,' Harry started to smile at the memory, 'You should have seen it! One moment, Aunt Petunia was reaching for a biscuit, the next Professor Dumbledore was sitting in the middle of the kitchen table, wearing the plate of biscuits and clutching a cup of tea in one hand.'
Ron guffawed and even Hermione had to work not to laugh at the image Harry painted of their Headmaster.
'Anyway, Dumbledore told me he had come to bring me back to Hogwarts if I was willing. He said it was a life or death situation.'
Hermione gasped and Ron paled.
'Not -,' Ron gestured at Harry's forehead. Harry's hand automatically went to the scar.
'No. It was nothing to do with Voldemort,' Ron grimaced when Harry said the name, 'At least, not directly.'
'Professor Snape was severely beaten by some Death Eaters. I don't know what actually happened,' Harry shrugged, 'He had lost a lot of blood and he needed a blood transfusion before Madam Pomfery could begin to cast the healing spells.'
Ron interrupted him, 'Couldn't they have gotten someone else to give Snape blood? Why'd it have to be you.'
Harry shook his head, 'I was the closet person with the right blood-magic type. Madam Pomfery had to use a vampire leech to make the transfusion.'
Harry pulled up his sleeve and showed his friends the mark that still lingered on his arm from the leech. Hermione grasped his arm and pulled it closer.
'How does it work?' she wanted to know. Harry filled her in on the procedure while Ron grimaced in disgust in the background, echoing Harry's own sentiments on the whole thing.
When Harry had finished explaining it to Hermione, the three of them sat in silence for a moment. Hermione's face was thoughtful and Ron's was working in disgust. Suddenly he burst out with the comment:
'Ugh! That's revolting!'
Harry laughed at his expression, 'You should try being the one that's getting the blood sucked out of him by some great ugly leech!'
'Harry!' Hermione abruptly interrupted, 'You said before that you were the closet person with the right blood-magic type, right?'
Harry nodded, and he and Ron regarded Hermione warily, wondering where she was going with this.
'Well, I was just wondering... What type *are* you?'
Harry visibly relaxed.
'O-sigma.'
'And you were the closet person with the right type?' Ron verified.
Harry nodded, his eyes still on Hermione. Her expression had turned thoughtful, like she was trying to remember something. Over the years, Harry had learnt to mistrust that expression. It usually meant Hermione was about to drag he and Ron off to the library in search of a book.
'O-sigma,' Hermione muttered to herself. Suddenly, she leapt off the bed, causing Ron and Harry to start. She scrambled over to her bag sitting by the door and delved into its depths. Harry saw he had been right earlier - there were several library books in Hermione's bag. Right now, she was leafing through a familiar-looking one.
When she returned to the bed with it, Harry realised it was 'Blood and Its Properties', the same book Harry had been reading on the subject of blood- magic types.
'Ha!' she exclaimed and triumphantly dumped the book on the bed, 'I was right!'
'About what?' Ron wanted to know as he and Harry leant over the book. Harry realised it was open to the exact page he had been reading.
'Professor Snape was really lucky that you happened to have the same blood- magic type as him, Harry.' She was pointing at a passage Harry had never gotten the chance to read:
"It is as yet unclear why this blood-magic type is the only one to actively affect magic. Little is actually known beyond the fact that it is the rarest of blood-magic types, often occurring only within a family. One in five thousand magical children born has this blood-magic type...."
'It says that often, only a member of one's family will be able to give the transfusion because that type is so rare. And isn't all of Snape's family dead? So he was really lucky that Harry happened to have the same type.'
Harry closed the book and pushed it away from him. Ron sat back. He snorted under his breath.
'Yeah, well, it wasn't so lucky for the rest of us,' he muttered, 'If he hadn't made it, then we wouldn't have to have that slimy Slytherin-loving evil git for Potions next year.'
'Ron!' Hermione gasped horrified. She looked as though she was going to berate him further, but Harry got in first.
'Ron. Lay off him, won't you? He was wounded spying for Dumbledore. And besides, I don't think he's really as bad as all that.'
Ron and Hermione gaped at him, trying to come to terms with the fact that Harry had just defended the least liked teacher in the school. He shifted uncomfortably under their stares.
'What?' he exclaimed, then muttered under his breath, 'He let me use his potions classroom, not mention his own ingredients.'
'Have you heard from Snuffles recently?' Ron asked Harry.
The three friends were prowling the halls in search of Remus Lupin. Hermione and Ron hadn't seen him yet and were eager to do so. Only, he hadn't been in the Great Hall for breakfast that morning. So now the search was on to find the elusive werewolf.
Harry shook his head, 'Remus was the last one to see him. Apparently, Professor Dumbledore has sent him off on some sort of mission. He can't be contacted until it's over. Nobody's heard from him in over two weeks now.' A note of worry for his godfather entered his voice.
Hermione must have noticed it, because she rested a comforting hand on his arm.
'I'm sure he's fine, Harry. It's been longer than two weeks between letters from him before.'
'Yeah, but....' Harry tried to shrug of the feeling.
'He wasn't on a top secret mission for Dumbledore then, 'Mione! Who knows what could have happened to him?'
Hermione swatted Ron across the back of the head and hissed at him, 'Ron!'
Ron immediately realised what he'd said wrong and hurried to cover himself, 'But I'm sure everything's okay! The post probably just got delayed.'
Harry couldn't help but laugh at his friends' attempts to cheer him up. He was still worried about his godfather.... But Hermione was right; he was probably just fine. There was no point in worrying. It wasn't like he could do anything anyway.
Harry realised then that the three of them had just turned down the hospital wing corridor.
'What *is* it about this place?' he muttered under his breath.
'Huh?' Ron had overheard him.
Harry shook his head, 'Nothing. But while we're here, we might us well check the infirmary. Remus might be visiting Professor Snape.'
'What would he want to go and do a thing like that for?' Ron wanted to know.
'I don't know. Remus said they were friends, but if they are, they're the weirdest friends I ever saw. Snape just snipes at him all the time.'
Harry headed down the corridor toward the hospital wing door, Ron and Hermione trailing behind.
He was three metres from it when he heard the voices. He gestured for his friends to be quiet. They crept up beside him and together, the three strained to hear what was being said.
Remus was in there with Professor Snape. He was sounding uncommonly serious.
'Severus, you have to tell him sooner or later. Sooner, rather than later, preferably.'
When he answered, Snape's voice was caustic and just the tiniest bit petulant.
'I don't see why.'
'You know as well as I do, you stubborn old git,' Remus growled.
Beside him, Hermione gasped and Ron grinned. Harry gestured them both to silence. He wanted to hear Snape's response.
'Apparently I don't.'
Snape obviously wasn't interested in continuing the conversation, but Remus wasn't giving up. Through gritted teeth he said:
'Fine! If you want me to spell it out for you, I will.'
'Please do,' came the disinterested reply and Harry could just imagine the Potions Professor examining his fingernails.
'The boy has a right to know who his...'
Harry, Ron and Hermione never got to hear what the unidentified boy had a right to know.
Peeves the poltergeist had floated through the wall behind them and spotted the three gathered about the door, eavesdropping on the conversation of their professors. It was too good an opportunity for the meddling creature to pass up.
He crept up behind the oblivious trio and knocked over a suit of armour, cackling madly and shouting: 'Ickle kiddies! Ickle kiddies spying on their professors!'
Ron, Harry and Hermione jumped at the crash. They didn't even pause to see what had caused the racket; they bolted down the hall and around the corner. The hem of Hermione's skirt had just whipped out of sight around the corner when they heard the infirmary door crash open and Remus shout 'Peeves!'
The three Gryffindors didn't stop running until they found themselves on the shore of the lake. They collapsed in a heap in the shade of a tree and gasped desperately for their breath.
Hermione began to giggle. When Harry and Ron looked at her, she just shook her head at them and began to laugh harder. It was contagious. Soon Harry and Ron were laughing too. The three of them ended up on their backs, clutching their sides.
Eventually, their laughter faded back to giggles, then to intermittent chuckles. Finally, they managed to sit up again and gain their breath back.
'What do you think they were talking about?' asked Hermione, wiping tears of laughter from her cheeks.
Ron shrugged and, plucking up a nearby stone, skipped it across the surface of the lake.
Harry lay back on the ground, his hands laced behind his head.
'I don't know. I don't even know *who* they were talking about.'
Hermione lay down next to him, her hands laced across her chest.
'We never got to speak to Remus.'
They lapsed into silence. Hermione and Harry were cloud gazing and the occasional splash marked the passage of another stone across the water as Ron skipped it. A while later, Ron tired of that pass time and came to join the other two on the ground. He positioned himself so he was lying in the opposite direction, his head between Harry's and Hermione's.
Harry raised a hand and pointed at a cloud that was floating by over head, 'That one looks like Norbert.'
Hermione turned her head slightly, 'I was thinking it looked like Buckbeak.'
Ron snorted, 'You're both wrong,' he put on a falsetto voice, mimicking Professor Trelawney, 'It's the Grim!'
Harry laughed and Hermione huffed an impatient sigh at the mention of the Divination Professor. The three spent the rest of the afternoon trying to out-do each other with out-landish figures in the clouds.
TBC
AN: This is what I get for releasing my Muses. They won't let me leave the study! I hope you all appreciate what I'm doing for you, readers.
*trudges wearily to next chapter*
And now comes the time when I thank my reviewers again:
Nicky: no response to the uncle Sev thing.... I've never actually read the Severitus' challenge. What I know of it, I picked up from the stories in response to it. So, no this isn't *strictly* a Severitus' challenge fic.
SilverWolf: I promise to treat my Muses better from now on! More on the wizard-mark is up coming....
zaksgirllol: I'm glad you like my concept and I don't think I could stop if I tried
Lee Lee Potter: another of my regular reviewers along with Littletiger, Silverwolf and Silvermoon. Luvre you all. Anyways, I've stopped whining now, I got some sleep and I wrote you TWO more chapters
Elektra Joradees Gamblin: I haven't managed to get rid of my Muses yet. I'm just hiding out.
Silvermoon: You ask, I deliver.
Glipp: It always gives me a kick when reviewers say they like my fics! Thankyou.
And, now, with no further ado, I give you chapters six and seven.....
*drums roll and trumpets blare*
Chapter Six: The Golden Trio rides again
This particular Saturday morning found Harry sitting on the steps leading up to Hogwarts' grand entrance. His hands were empty and his eyes were focused on the distant gate. He had been back at the castle for eight days now. It had been five days since Professor Snape had woken up, four days since Remus Lupin had arrived and it was exactly one week until Harry's fifteenth birthday.
And Harry was waiting. Waiting for the gate to swing open and admit one of Hogwarts' multitude of horseless carriages.
Just that morning at breakfast, Dumbledore had informed Harry that he had taken the liberty of inviting Ron and Hermione to stay at the school for the two weeks on either side of Harry's birthday. Harry had been ecstatic and ever since, he had been sitting on the hard stone of the steps, even though his friends weren't due to arrive until lunchtime.
Various people had whiled away a short time with Harry as he waited. Hagrid's great boarhound, Fang had shoved his blunt head under Harry's hand demanding caress at one point, but even he had eventually wandered off, leaving Harry alone and still waiting.
At long last, just as the grandfather clock in the entrance hall struck the hour as a quarter to twelve, the gates creaked open in the distant and a horseless carriage started on its way up the drive. Even from that distance, Harry could spy the red head sticking out the window, waving madly, until suddenly it was wrenched back.
Harry laughed. He was willing to bet Hermione had just pulled Ron back down and was now berating him for hanging so dangerously out the window. Harry got to his feet and dusted off his pants. He descended the flight of stairs, waiting at their bottom for the carriage to come to a stop.
The door burst open and Ron leapt from the interior before the coach even had a chance to halt.
'Oi, Harry mate!' he enthusiastically thumped Harry on the back, 'How weird is it to be back at Hogwarts in the summer?'
Harry grinned at his best friend, 'It'll be better now that you and 'Mione are here.'
He turned back to the carriage to greet Hermione and was just in time to receive the heavy bag she cast at him. He staggered under the weight.
'Hermione! What in Merlin's name is in this thing?'
Hermione was lugging another bag out of the carriage only slightly smaller than the one in Harry's arms.
'Hullo Harry. It's good to see you.'
'It's good to see you too,' Harry grimaced, 'About the bag?'
'It's my school books,' behind Harry, Ron made a choking sound. Hermione glared at him, 'I figured if I was going to be at Hogwarts, I should take advantage of the library.'
Harry and Ron gaped at her and said in identical voices, 'Hermione!'
Ron continued, ''Mione, it's the holidays! You're not meant to be worrying about school work!'
Hermione rolled her eyes and dumped her bag in Ron's arms, 'Just because *I* want good marks in the O.W.Ls next year. Besides,' she said as she started up the steps, 'I'm almost finished. There're only a couple of things I want to check on.'
Harry and Ron rolled their eyes at each other and followed their friend up the steps and into the school.
That evening, Ron and Harry were sitting in the middle of Harry's bed playing a game of wizarding chess. Hermione had disappeared halfway through the afternoon, and since both boys suspected she was in the library, neither was game to try and find her. They knew she would emerge some time later, her thirst for learning temporarily quenched. When she did, she would seek them out and they could get on with the business of catching up.
Until then, the two Gryffindor boys were spending their time playing chess. That is to say, Harry was spending his time being thoroughly trounced by Ron.
At that moment, one of Ron's pawns - a pawn, for Merlin's sake! - was - quite politely for a wizarding chess set - carrying Harry's white king to the edge of the board and tipping it off before quite smugly dusting its hands.
Harry threw up *his* hands in defeat. That had been his worst loss yet. Ron was gathering up his pieces and Harry could tell he was about to propose another game. Harry was madly scrambling for some excuse not to play when the door swung open and Hermione came in.
Harry bounced off the bed and over to her side.
'Hermione! Where have you been?'
Both Ron and Hermione sent him odd looks for his enthusiasm, but Harry ignored them.
'I was in the library. *Someone*,' Hermione glared at Harry, 'left a heap of books on one of the tables and I had to find where they went.'
Harry grinned at her, unabashed. Although, when he slid a quick glance at Hermione's bag as it sat by his door, it seemed to be bulging just a little more. He would lay good odds that Hermione had borrowed several of those books for some 'light reading'.
'Anyway, enough about me,' Hermione plonked herself down on the bed next to Ron, 'We want to here why you're at Hogwarts for the summer. Dumbledore didn't say anything in the letter.'
Ron placed the chessboard and pieces on the night table and sat up, adding his agreement to Hermione's.
'Yeah, what's going on?'
Harry had known this was coming. In fact, he was surprised they had held off so long. He had been expecting the question to be the first thing out of their mouths when they had arrived earlier in the day. Nevertheless, Harry sighed long-sufferingly. His theatrics gained him no sympathy from his friends, who both continued to regard him with identical stoic expressions.
'Fine,' Harry threw up his hands in exasperation, 'Shove over and I'll tell you.'
Hermione and Ron made room for Harry and he settled himself on the bed before looking back at his friends.
'There's not really much to tell. Dumbledore turned up at Privet Drive last Friday, just as the Dursleys were sitting down for tea,' Harry started to smile at the memory, 'You should have seen it! One moment, Aunt Petunia was reaching for a biscuit, the next Professor Dumbledore was sitting in the middle of the kitchen table, wearing the plate of biscuits and clutching a cup of tea in one hand.'
Ron guffawed and even Hermione had to work not to laugh at the image Harry painted of their Headmaster.
'Anyway, Dumbledore told me he had come to bring me back to Hogwarts if I was willing. He said it was a life or death situation.'
Hermione gasped and Ron paled.
'Not -,' Ron gestured at Harry's forehead. Harry's hand automatically went to the scar.
'No. It was nothing to do with Voldemort,' Ron grimaced when Harry said the name, 'At least, not directly.'
'Professor Snape was severely beaten by some Death Eaters. I don't know what actually happened,' Harry shrugged, 'He had lost a lot of blood and he needed a blood transfusion before Madam Pomfery could begin to cast the healing spells.'
Ron interrupted him, 'Couldn't they have gotten someone else to give Snape blood? Why'd it have to be you.'
Harry shook his head, 'I was the closet person with the right blood-magic type. Madam Pomfery had to use a vampire leech to make the transfusion.'
Harry pulled up his sleeve and showed his friends the mark that still lingered on his arm from the leech. Hermione grasped his arm and pulled it closer.
'How does it work?' she wanted to know. Harry filled her in on the procedure while Ron grimaced in disgust in the background, echoing Harry's own sentiments on the whole thing.
When Harry had finished explaining it to Hermione, the three of them sat in silence for a moment. Hermione's face was thoughtful and Ron's was working in disgust. Suddenly he burst out with the comment:
'Ugh! That's revolting!'
Harry laughed at his expression, 'You should try being the one that's getting the blood sucked out of him by some great ugly leech!'
'Harry!' Hermione abruptly interrupted, 'You said before that you were the closet person with the right blood-magic type, right?'
Harry nodded, and he and Ron regarded Hermione warily, wondering where she was going with this.
'Well, I was just wondering... What type *are* you?'
Harry visibly relaxed.
'O-sigma.'
'And you were the closet person with the right type?' Ron verified.
Harry nodded, his eyes still on Hermione. Her expression had turned thoughtful, like she was trying to remember something. Over the years, Harry had learnt to mistrust that expression. It usually meant Hermione was about to drag he and Ron off to the library in search of a book.
'O-sigma,' Hermione muttered to herself. Suddenly, she leapt off the bed, causing Ron and Harry to start. She scrambled over to her bag sitting by the door and delved into its depths. Harry saw he had been right earlier - there were several library books in Hermione's bag. Right now, she was leafing through a familiar-looking one.
When she returned to the bed with it, Harry realised it was 'Blood and Its Properties', the same book Harry had been reading on the subject of blood- magic types.
'Ha!' she exclaimed and triumphantly dumped the book on the bed, 'I was right!'
'About what?' Ron wanted to know as he and Harry leant over the book. Harry realised it was open to the exact page he had been reading.
'Professor Snape was really lucky that you happened to have the same blood- magic type as him, Harry.' She was pointing at a passage Harry had never gotten the chance to read:
"It is as yet unclear why this blood-magic type is the only one to actively affect magic. Little is actually known beyond the fact that it is the rarest of blood-magic types, often occurring only within a family. One in five thousand magical children born has this blood-magic type...."
'It says that often, only a member of one's family will be able to give the transfusion because that type is so rare. And isn't all of Snape's family dead? So he was really lucky that Harry happened to have the same type.'
Harry closed the book and pushed it away from him. Ron sat back. He snorted under his breath.
'Yeah, well, it wasn't so lucky for the rest of us,' he muttered, 'If he hadn't made it, then we wouldn't have to have that slimy Slytherin-loving evil git for Potions next year.'
'Ron!' Hermione gasped horrified. She looked as though she was going to berate him further, but Harry got in first.
'Ron. Lay off him, won't you? He was wounded spying for Dumbledore. And besides, I don't think he's really as bad as all that.'
Ron and Hermione gaped at him, trying to come to terms with the fact that Harry had just defended the least liked teacher in the school. He shifted uncomfortably under their stares.
'What?' he exclaimed, then muttered under his breath, 'He let me use his potions classroom, not mention his own ingredients.'
'Have you heard from Snuffles recently?' Ron asked Harry.
The three friends were prowling the halls in search of Remus Lupin. Hermione and Ron hadn't seen him yet and were eager to do so. Only, he hadn't been in the Great Hall for breakfast that morning. So now the search was on to find the elusive werewolf.
Harry shook his head, 'Remus was the last one to see him. Apparently, Professor Dumbledore has sent him off on some sort of mission. He can't be contacted until it's over. Nobody's heard from him in over two weeks now.' A note of worry for his godfather entered his voice.
Hermione must have noticed it, because she rested a comforting hand on his arm.
'I'm sure he's fine, Harry. It's been longer than two weeks between letters from him before.'
'Yeah, but....' Harry tried to shrug of the feeling.
'He wasn't on a top secret mission for Dumbledore then, 'Mione! Who knows what could have happened to him?'
Hermione swatted Ron across the back of the head and hissed at him, 'Ron!'
Ron immediately realised what he'd said wrong and hurried to cover himself, 'But I'm sure everything's okay! The post probably just got delayed.'
Harry couldn't help but laugh at his friends' attempts to cheer him up. He was still worried about his godfather.... But Hermione was right; he was probably just fine. There was no point in worrying. It wasn't like he could do anything anyway.
Harry realised then that the three of them had just turned down the hospital wing corridor.
'What *is* it about this place?' he muttered under his breath.
'Huh?' Ron had overheard him.
Harry shook his head, 'Nothing. But while we're here, we might us well check the infirmary. Remus might be visiting Professor Snape.'
'What would he want to go and do a thing like that for?' Ron wanted to know.
'I don't know. Remus said they were friends, but if they are, they're the weirdest friends I ever saw. Snape just snipes at him all the time.'
Harry headed down the corridor toward the hospital wing door, Ron and Hermione trailing behind.
He was three metres from it when he heard the voices. He gestured for his friends to be quiet. They crept up beside him and together, the three strained to hear what was being said.
Remus was in there with Professor Snape. He was sounding uncommonly serious.
'Severus, you have to tell him sooner or later. Sooner, rather than later, preferably.'
When he answered, Snape's voice was caustic and just the tiniest bit petulant.
'I don't see why.'
'You know as well as I do, you stubborn old git,' Remus growled.
Beside him, Hermione gasped and Ron grinned. Harry gestured them both to silence. He wanted to hear Snape's response.
'Apparently I don't.'
Snape obviously wasn't interested in continuing the conversation, but Remus wasn't giving up. Through gritted teeth he said:
'Fine! If you want me to spell it out for you, I will.'
'Please do,' came the disinterested reply and Harry could just imagine the Potions Professor examining his fingernails.
'The boy has a right to know who his...'
Harry, Ron and Hermione never got to hear what the unidentified boy had a right to know.
Peeves the poltergeist had floated through the wall behind them and spotted the three gathered about the door, eavesdropping on the conversation of their professors. It was too good an opportunity for the meddling creature to pass up.
He crept up behind the oblivious trio and knocked over a suit of armour, cackling madly and shouting: 'Ickle kiddies! Ickle kiddies spying on their professors!'
Ron, Harry and Hermione jumped at the crash. They didn't even pause to see what had caused the racket; they bolted down the hall and around the corner. The hem of Hermione's skirt had just whipped out of sight around the corner when they heard the infirmary door crash open and Remus shout 'Peeves!'
The three Gryffindors didn't stop running until they found themselves on the shore of the lake. They collapsed in a heap in the shade of a tree and gasped desperately for their breath.
Hermione began to giggle. When Harry and Ron looked at her, she just shook her head at them and began to laugh harder. It was contagious. Soon Harry and Ron were laughing too. The three of them ended up on their backs, clutching their sides.
Eventually, their laughter faded back to giggles, then to intermittent chuckles. Finally, they managed to sit up again and gain their breath back.
'What do you think they were talking about?' asked Hermione, wiping tears of laughter from her cheeks.
Ron shrugged and, plucking up a nearby stone, skipped it across the surface of the lake.
Harry lay back on the ground, his hands laced behind his head.
'I don't know. I don't even know *who* they were talking about.'
Hermione lay down next to him, her hands laced across her chest.
'We never got to speak to Remus.'
They lapsed into silence. Hermione and Harry were cloud gazing and the occasional splash marked the passage of another stone across the water as Ron skipped it. A while later, Ron tired of that pass time and came to join the other two on the ground. He positioned himself so he was lying in the opposite direction, his head between Harry's and Hermione's.
Harry raised a hand and pointed at a cloud that was floating by over head, 'That one looks like Norbert.'
Hermione turned her head slightly, 'I was thinking it looked like Buckbeak.'
Ron snorted, 'You're both wrong,' he put on a falsetto voice, mimicking Professor Trelawney, 'It's the Grim!'
Harry laughed and Hermione huffed an impatient sigh at the mention of the Divination Professor. The three spent the rest of the afternoon trying to out-do each other with out-landish figures in the clouds.
TBC
AN: This is what I get for releasing my Muses. They won't let me leave the study! I hope you all appreciate what I'm doing for you, readers.
*trudges wearily to next chapter*