Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all these other great characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I just play with them!

12. Taking inventory.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday went by quickly again. Harry finished his homework on Monday, apart from the Transfiguration essay of course, and he spent almost all of his free time flying.  Regardless of Professor Snape's reluctance to talk about Quidditch, once he had finished his homework, Harry had asked and received permission to go out in the mornings and put in even more practice time.

Professor Snape let him brew increasingly difficult potions, and Harry was surprised to discover it was actually at least as much fun as any other form of magic, as long as he didn't have to worry about getting yelled at all the time. Potions had been his least favorite subject, together with Divination, which was still as vague as ever to him. And of course Professor Trelawney was hardly his favorite teacher either, with her constant predictions of his death and doom. For the first time, Harry really noticed the way the potions changed color and consistency, and he finally started to understand the way the ingredients interacted, something which had eluded him until now.

So here he was, at dinner Wednesday evening, and thinking about whether he could still go out and fly tonight or whether the thunderstorm that was predicted would arrive before then. The ceiling was no help; it only showed the sky directly overhead and gave no hint to what could be looming on the horizon. He would like to get another hour or two in, once the weather changed who knew when it'd be sunny and dry again.

"Harry, I'd like you to come down tomorrow morning as well, I'm going to take inventory and I could use your help," Professor Snape said.

Harry started. "Eh?" he said.

"I asked if you could come down in the morning tomorrow, I can use your help with the inventory," Snape repeated, frowning.

"Sure, sir, I will," Harry replied quickly. He had been far away with his thoughts, but that wasn't what had startled him. Had Snape really called him Harry? Snape hadn't seemed to notice, and Harry didn't want to spoil anything by drawing attention to it. "Sorry, sir, I was just lost in thought," he added.

"I noticed," Snape remarked dryly. "Well, as long as you pay attention for the inventory itself. We'll go to Diagon Alley on Saturday, make sure you have your own list of books and supplies ready by then."

"Yes, sir," Harry replied. He had not given much thought to how he was to get his books this year, as there had been so much to worry about already, but of course he did need a good many things for his next school year. He had written down everything he had needed before his uncle threw him out, but he must not forget the transfiguration book or the spilled potion ingredients. That would be something, if he'd be taking inventory with Snape and forgot about refilling his own! 

Harry went down to the dungeons immediately after breakfast. Late last night the thunderstorm had indeed arrived, and with it the change in the weather, so he did not even have to regret missing a morning of Quidditch practice. Of course, in the dungeons he would notice as little of the rain as he had of the sunny weather last week. Professor Snape was already in the store room when he arrived.

"Good morning, Harry. Take a chair and one of the small desks so you have somewhere to sit and write," Professor Snape greeted him as he came in.

"Morning Professor," Harry replied quickly. Now he knew he'd heard his name. "Coming right up."

He pulled the furniture in, and Snape handed him some parchment and a quill.

"Write down the ingredients I name, and the amounts needed. That's everything, but it'll go a lot quicker than when I have to do it all myself, and quoting quills are terribly unreliable," Snape explained.

"Yes, sir," Harry replied. He sat down and Snape began to call out ingredients, starting with the common, non-magical ones.

Writing quickly, Harry did his best to keep up. Only a few times did he hesitate on a difficult spelling. Finally they reached the zinc (scrapings and powder) and the zucchini seeds, and Snape called for a break.

"It is still a little early for lunch, but we can start on the magical ingredients after we eat," he suggested.

Harry was all too happy to agree, his fingers were numb from writing.

And all too soon they were back. With the magical ingredients, Harry hesitated a few times more. They just had not covered everything in class, and some of the names were really, really strange. What to think of bazzanituzitu shields (the shields of a magical bug found in Africa) or coatloatotol scales (from a small, magical fish found off the coast of Mexico)?

But to Harry's relief Snape did not berate him for not knowing these. When he noticed Harry was stuck, he told him how to spell the name and even added what it was used for.

All went fine until they reached the G. Gem drops, gem dust, gildenrod, Gillyweed. Oops. Harry hesitated. Without turning, he knew Snape had come to a stop as well.

Taking a deep breath, Harry put down his quill and turned around.

"I did not take it, Professor," he said.

"I knew that when I saw you last week in the store room, you'd never been in here before. But I think you know who did," Snape replied dryly.

Harry swallowed. So that's why Snape had sent him into the store room without explaining the system. He took another deep breath and made himself meet Snape's stare.

"I can't tell you, sir. The person who gave it to me did so of his own accord, I did not ask for it, and I didn't know where it came from 'til you told me the next day. But he helped me and I'll not repay him by telling you his name." Harry was surprised at how steady his voice sounded. After a brief hesitation, he added, "I will replace it, after all I did use it. I'm sorry, I guess I should've offered to do that when I found out it came from your stores."

Of course, he had been much too afraid to do that at the time. If he had not denied any knowledge of the Gillyweed, Snape would've made him tell who had stolen it, he was sure. He still worried Snape would not accept his explanation. But there was no way he could betray Dobby.

Professor Snape had waited him out, the almost-empty jar in his hand.

"So you will not tell me who took it upon himself to steal from my stores," Snape said darkly.

Harry shook his head and repeated what he had said. "Sorry, sir. I'll replace it but I'll not tell on my friend." After a moment's thought he added, "It was not Ron or Hermione," taking the heat away from the two most likely suspects.

Snape frowned, then stared at him for a long time, but Harry refused to look away. Finally, Snape spoke again.

"Very Gryffindor of you, to protect your friends. I suppose it's futile to convince you to do otherwise. I must say I would've been disappointed if you'd indeed asked one of your friends to do the dirty work for you. Very well, you can replace the Gillyweed."

"Thank you, Professor," Harry said, greatly relieved. He turned back and picked up his quill.

"Oh, one more thing," Snape added.

Harry turned back.

"Next time you or your friends need anything, you come to me and ask."

"Yes, sir!" Harry replied sincerely. Of course, last year that would've been unthinkable, but well, that had been then and this was now. He meant what he said.

Snape nodded briefly, then put the jar back and turned towards the shelves, calling out the next ingredient. Gleam powder. Harry quickly wrote it down.

They finished the magical ingredients just before dinner. Professor Snape told him to leave the table, tomorrow there would be the much smaller stock of rare items left, and the commonly used items which were kept on the shelves in the classroom. But most of it was done.

The next morning Harry was on his own again. He sent Hedwig out with another letter for Ron. He did not go into great detail about anything that had happened the past week, he did not think Ron would understand. He did write he'd spent a lot of time practising his flying skills and that getting his books was going to be taken care of, for of course the Weasleys had helped him the previous years.

The afternoon went by quickly. The rest of the ingredients didn't take long, they were done well before dinner and Professor Snape was obviously pleased it had all gone so quickly.

Dinner time came again.

"Harry, what else do you need apart from your books? I like to know where we'll have to go tomorrow," Professor Snape asked.

Harry did not need his list to answer. "Ink, a couple new quills, parchment, almost all new potion ingredients –most of what I had left got spilled all over the yard when my uncle threw the trunk out-, a jar of all-weather broom wax, owl treats, my robes are getting too short, and I have to get a new copy of my transfiguration book," he summed up.

"What happened to your old one?" Snape asked.

"I'm not sure, I think it must've fallen underneath the bed or something and my uncle missed it, 'cause I didn't have it when I got here. I had a lot of notes in it, too, but I can't hardly go back for it. If they didn't find it and threw it out with the trash, already."

"We can stop by there tomorrow and pick it up, if it's still there," Snape said.

"That'd be great, Professor. We can't get there by floo though, the fireplace's walled up," Harry replied, remembering the time the Weasleys had come using the floo system.

"We can floo to Mrs Figg's, that is close by," Snape suggested.

Harry almost dropped his fork. "Mrs Figg? She's a witch?"

"Yes, she is. She's an old friend of the Headmaster's. She was made your Secretkeeper, and went to live in the neighborhood to keep an eye on you and your family. Apparently she did not see much of anything that was going on. I thought you knew she was a witch, you heard the Headmaster name her last year, didn't you?"

Mrs Figg was his Secretkeeper? That did explain why Dumbledore was so sure he was safe at the Dursleys. But why hadn't the Headmaster told him? And… Mrs Figg??

"Well, yes, I did, but I thought that had to be another Mrs Figg. She never told me anything! And why didn't she ever do anything about the Dursleys? They never hit me that hard before but…," Harry said, and hesitated. He'd rarely told anyone much about how the Dursleys treated him, or about the closet under the stairs. Even Ron and Hermione didn't know the details. "They always treated me like crap," he finished.

Snape raised his eyebrows but he did not comment on Harry's choice of words. "As I said, she clearly did not see everything that was going on. She was an Auror, but in my opinion, she was far from the most perceptive person among them. Anything else, you'll have to ask her. For which you'll have plenty of time, since she's coming to Hogwarts. She will teach Defense against the Dark Arts this year."

"She what?" Harry asked, incredulously.

Snape shrugged. "I have a lot of respect for Albus Dumbledore, but I don't know what he's thinking with his choices for that particular position."

"Everyone says you want it," Harry said.

Snape frowned. "Yes, I did want it. But with my background there never was much chance of actually getting it. And now it's too late. Now Voldemort has returned the curriculum in all classes will include various methods of defense against whatever method of attack may come, I'll do my part in Potions."

"I see, I think," Harry replied quietly. Until now, he had not really realised the impact Voldemort's return would have. He had known about the wards of protection on his home, but he was one of Voldemort's prime targets. That it affected what all students would be taught made it feel much worse.

"That does bring up one thing I must tell you before tomorrow," Snape continued. "I doubt Voldemort will try anything in Diagon Alley, not with so many wizards there. He's only attacked Muggle targets and some isolated Muggle-born wizards. But I don't have to tell you he has reasons to hate us both, and he or one of his minions may be tempted to try something if they run into us. I want you to stay near me, keep your eyes open, en no fooling around."

"I understand," Harry replied solemnly.