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Chapter 17: Where The Birds Flock

Or, the chapter in which there are stormy clouds forming on the horizon and I'm having trouble finding an umbrella

When I returned Harry to Privet Drive on the day of the house auction, a discussion occurred with the Dursleys about summer holiday plans. Harry had recently been invited to join Stuart and his family for a fortnight's holiday in Lanzarote during the last two weeks of July, and he was keen to accept. Vernon and Petunia were willing to allow this (provided that I paid all of the bills, of course), and so it was settled that I would contact Stuart's parents and make the necessary arrangements. Meanwhile, the Dursleys had plans for a Mediterranean cruise for three weeks in August. Dudley was in favour of the idea, though from his remarks on the subject, this mainly seemed to be because of the free snacks, free ice cream and all you can eat buffets that would be available to him on the ship. I was asked to look after Harry while they were away, which I agreed to do. Harry wasn't too bothered about not being invited along this time around because he had his own foreign trip to look forward to. The only point of contention was when I mentioned that JP would be with me while we were staying in the house. The Dursleys eventually agreed to his presence after I convinced them that no damage would be done by my dog to their 'wonderful home'. I knew that Harry would be spending time at the Burrow and Puffin Place as well, so I was confident that he'd have an entertaining summer to look forward to.

As the Easter weekend fell at the end of March, the new summer term had already begun when the Headmaster and I took possession of Puffin Place towards the end of April. We bought it fully furnished from an elderly witch who was "keen to sell quick-smart, as I'm moving to Spain for the warmer weather, on account of my rheumatics." We were both looking forward to the summer when we would have the chance to really make use of the house properly. Structurally, the only change we made was to divide up the ballroom into several smaller rooms; a dining room, a study for each of us, a games room and an art room for me. (The latter was the Headmaster's suggestion; I'd shown him some of my artwork recently, and since then he'd been encouraging me to develop my artistic skills further). As Puffin Place had no house elves attached, I told Mafty to keep it clean and tidy, and to maintain the garden. He agreed to this with deep satisfaction – though he added regretfully that it would probably be necessary in the circumstances for him to share the work with the Headmaster's elf, Balquo. I agreed to this without enthusiasm. I hoped that I could avoid seeing too much of Balquo, who in my opinion was a deadly combination of obsequious and highly-strung.

In terms of decor, there was a certain amount of work needed to replace some of the deeply unfashionable curtains, furniture, wallpaper and carpets. The Headmaster had a decorator friend who promptly sorted that out for us. When asked what type of design I would like, I merely said: "No pink, no floral, no chintz, no black, no red, plenty of green." The results were pleasing to the eye, although unfortunately the Headmaster then went out and bought all sorts of tasteless objects – ornaments, sculptures, paintings and so on – which according to him would add character to the house. One day when I was alone there, I mischievously hid the ones which I particularly disliked in the far corner of the attic. When I next visited the house they were back in place, though the house elves assured me they hadn't moved them, so I hid them somewhere else. This was the start of a little game which is still continuing between Dumbledore and myself; I conceal the worst items somewhere, then he tracks them down and puts them on show again when I'm not looking. To be honest, it's become quite entertaining and I put considerable effort into choosing new hiding places, lately with Harry's willing assistance. (The Headmaster always locates them eventually, but I think we do make it fairly difficult for him).

Incidentally, some of you may be wondering how the house got its name, since puffins are not usually to be found in in rural Devon. Apparently, the first owner of the house named it after himself. Puffin was his nickname, taken from his initials: in full, he was Peregrine Ulmer Frederick Francis Indigo Nugent. (Sometimes when you hear people's names for the first time, it makes you wonder if their parents ever really wanted to have children).

Somewhat to my surprise, the Daily Prophet published an article about our purchase of Puffin Place a week or so later. I can only assume that it was a very slow news day. It wasn't a front page headline or anything like that; we appeared on page 9, with a photograph of our new home and another of the Headmaster and I, plus a picture which I hadn't seen before of Harry and myself walking with JP on a recent trip to Diagon Alley. The story was offensively gushing and suggestive in places. The paragraph which I particularly disliked was:

"Keen readers of this newspaper will doubtless recall that Professor Snape is now closely associated with a certain Boy Who Lived, and of course Headmaster Dumbledore knew the Potter family well. This journalist wonders why two members of Hogwarts staff who spend almost all of their time at the school would suddenly want to purchase a spacious new home for themselves. Could they perhaps be planning to implement new living arrangements for Harry Potter?"

I was furious when I saw this article, and I ranted about it for some time when I had chance to visit the Headmaster's office.

"How dare they write such a thing!" I snapped. "All we've done is get ourselves a house and they have to broadcast the fact all over the country!"

The Headmaster nodded resignedly. "Yes, I'm afraid that the editor of the Daily Prophet, while a good man in many ways, sometimes falls short of the ideal journalistic standards."

"Indeed," I seethed. "And now, anyone who's interested in hurting Harry will have a very good idea where to look for him!"

"Ah well, I don't think you need worry too much about that," he said soothingly. "After all, I have applied the most extensive portfolio of magical protections to the house and grounds already. And don't forget, if anyone looks there for Harry then for almost all of the year, they would be looking in entirely the wrong spot."

Well yes, that was logical. Even so…

"I am still not comfortable about this, Headmaster. I feel on edge somehow, as if something bad will come from this article appearing in the newspaper."

"Trust me, Severus – all will be well."

I reluctantly went along with this. I did trust the Headmaster, and I respected his judgement like nobody else's in this world, but I was not happy with the situation. However, other worries were to displace this one over the next few weeks. Most pressingly, as the month of May passed by, I was becoming concerned about my relationship with the Slytherin students. I wasn't even fully sure why this concern existed. It was nothing obvious, nothing explicitly stated, but in their behaviour towards me I sometimes sensed tiny nuances of dissatisfaction. I tried to understand the exact cause of this, but those students with whom I engaged in discreet conversation were reluctant to open up. There were suggestions made that I was misunderstanding the situation, though I didn't think that was so. And there were fewer Slytherin students than usual who visited my office for advice that month as well. My unease became even more pronounced at the beginning of June when Tiberius Glasson resigned as prefect, citing work pressures and the need to spend more time studying for his NEWTs as the reason. I could tell that there was more to it, even though he insisted otherwise. Replacing Mr. Glasson as prefect was easy enough, yes – but the timing of his departure from the prefectship seemed somehow ominous.

I was still very much focused on the above worries when in the first week of June, the Headmaster requested my presence in his office and told me that he had received a letter from Remus Lupin, of all people.

"It seems that Mr. Lupin saw those articles in the Daily Prophet and is wondering whether he might make contact with Harry," Dumbledore said, watching me carefully as he spoke.

I felt a surge of mixed alarm and anger. "Why exactly does he want to do that?"

"Well, he's interested in getting to know his best friend's son a little better. Perhaps you'd best read his letter for yourself."

I picked up the proffered piece of parchment, noting as I did so that it was tattered and ripped. I won't trouble you with the whole of the contents. The relevant part read as follows: "I've often wondered over the years how Harry was getting on. He looks so much like James now, doesn't he? I don't wish to cause any trouble, and I know that Severus will hardly remember me with any affection, but I was wondering if it might be all right for me to contact Harry? I rather regret not doing so before. Is it too late now?"

I threw the parchment onto the desk and stood up furiously. How dare he do this! Coming back after all of these years, crawling out of whatever den he inhabited nowadays to try and become part of Harry's life… it was disgusting!

I walked to the window and looked out across the school grounds, fighting to keep my temper. I realised then that this was another 'test', as I mentally termed such incidents. I had been a new person, a better person, for over eighteen months now. Even so, it sometimes seemed as if fate wanted to put me through my paces every now and again by throwing me a curve ball, just to make sure that I could handle the pressure of it, and perhaps to check that at my repentance was genuine at the deepest level. The old Severus Snape would have exploded with vitriolic fury and refused to let Lupin get within fifty miles of Harry. I was – I had to be – a different person entirely to that man.

I forced myself to calm down and think the matter through logically, as I'd learned during the past year and a half that I rarely made good decisions if I allowed anger to cloud my thinking. I cast my mind back to our school days – for I had not crossed paths with the man since then – and remembered Lupin when he was a boy. Meek, good natured, pleasant enough in a way… not a bully, someone lacking the sadistic edge of cruelty which Black and Potter both possessed, but Lupin also seemed to lack their forcefulness and daring. He stood by and watched when they hurt me, even as a prefect. There was nothing good to be said of him.

Of course, he could have changed greatly since then, just as I had.

And also, he was the only living member of James Potter's little gang who was available to spend time with Harry. I often talked to Harry about his mother and our friendship, but I didn't have fond memories of his father to share with him in the same way. Lupin could perhaps fill a gap, in that respect.

Mind you, the question also arose as to why he hadn't tried to contact Harry before, if he was that interested. One explanation might be that, like myself, he had spent the intervening years battling with his grief and loss. Three friends dead and a fourth in prison for their murder… it would be enough to crush anyone's spirit, I had to concede. It wasn't actually too late for him to contact Harry, just as it hadn't been too late for me to. I wouldn't let him within a hundred miles of Harry on full moon nights, of course, but for the rest of the time…

I turned around to face the Headmaster, who was smiling gently at me. "Do you think it would be good for Harry if Lupin was to contact him?" I asked.

"Well, perhaps… I certainly can't see that it would be bad for him."

"But what if…"

"Yes, my dear Severus?"

"What if he tried to replace me? What if Harry liked him better than me?"

The Headmaster stood up and came over to me. "That's now how these things work, Severus. Don't you remember explaining it to Harry? When we meet someone new and we start to feel fond of them then we build a new room in our heart-house to accommodate them. We don't throw someone out who's already there."

I sighed. "Headmaster, that was just something stupid that I threw into the conversation on the spur of the moment to reassure an insecure boy."

"And the reason why it reassured him was that he knew it to be true, as do I. Trust in Harry, Severus. He loves you so much… I don't think anything or anyone could change that."

He hugged me, and I allowed him to do so. I felt my anxiety drain away. As long as I had this, things would be fine. "Write to Lupin, then. Tell him about the spells preventing owls from reaching Harry. Say to him that if he forwards a letter to me then I will pass it on, and Harry can choose whether he gets in touch or not."

And so it was arranged.

A pathetic, grovelling note arrived from Lupin three days later, thanking me profusely for my assistance, promising that he wouldn't cause me any trouble and stating that he really appreciated the chance to get in touch with his old friend's son. I took the enclosed letter that he'd written for Harry with me that Saturday when I made my next regular visit to Little Whinging. It was mid-June, and the weather promised to be fine. We had no definite plans for the day except for a quidditch match in the afternoon so there would be plenty of time for us to discuss the matter. I made a brief stop-off at Mook Farm beforehand to leave JP there for the day. Meredith Mook strolled over to say hello and handed me a piece of paper.

"Take a look at that, Professor. Are you free?"

I did as requested. It was a leaflet advertising the Mook Farm Summer Fair on Saturday 10th August.

"What is this exactly?"

"The highlight of our year!" he said with a chuckle. "We invite all of our customers and their families and dogs and guests – bring anyone you like. JP could enter one or more of the competitions; there are about fifteen suitable events in the younger puppy class. And all of the dogs win a rosette for entering, and there are lots of other prizes too."

A rosette! Really? Well, when you put it that way, how could I refuse…

"Thank you for the suggestion. I'll have to check my schedule nearer the time."

"Oh, of course. It's a lot of fun though – I know you'll enjoy it if you come along. We have food and drink available, and a brass band playing, lots of stalls and so on, and fun and games for all the family."

"And dog competitions?"

"That's right. Look, see here…" he pointed to the list of events. These included: Hay Bale Racing, Dragon Dodging (The Safe Way), The Dogstacle Course, Splash-a-Minute, Meredith's Mysterium, Fabulous Fetching and the Dogs' Fancy Dress Competition.

"There's certainly a lot going on," I said noncommittally.

Meredith grinned at me. "We keep adding to the events year after year. Some of the owners train their dogs for months to give them the best chance of winning."

"Really? I'd wonder how they find the time."

"Ah, they're retired mostly. There's fierce competition amongst the oldies like myself," he said with a wink. "I reckon your JP might manage the fetching, or the hay bales. You can enter him any time up to the day before. Come along anyway though, even if he isn't competing; it's a wonderful atmosphere and everyone always enjoys themselves."

"I will if I can," I promised. Perhaps it would be rather amusing at that.

I chatted with him for a few more minutes before departing. I reached Little Whinging at about 9.30am, only to discover that the Dursley household was in considerable disarray. Vernon was pacing up and down the living room, holding several pieces of paper and muttering to himself feverishly. Petunia, meanwhile, was uttering aimless sentences which seemed to be intended to calm him down such as "It'll be fine dear, just wait and see!", to which he paid no attention at all. Dudley was also present, but he merely watched his parents flapping about as if they were some form of alien life.

I beckoned to Harry and we snuck off into the kitchen. "What's going on?"

He grinned at me. "Uncle Vernon got a call late last night. There's some big meeting at his office on Monday and he's got to give a presentation to try and sell people things. His boss was meant to do it but he's ill and can't make it. Uncle Vernon's trying to memorise his speech, and he's all worried in case he messes it up and his company don't get the order."

"Is he indeed?" I said, smiling. I immediately realised that this was another opportunity to make myself useful. "You know Harry, we should assist him."

"Why should we?"

"Because it's advantageous for us if we do something to make your uncle pleased. It'll only take an hour or so, and then we can go out. Do you want to help?"

"All right," he said doubtfully "But how can we help?"

"I'll explain when we're with the Dursleys, that'll save saying it twice." We went back to the living room, where Vernon was still fretting away and the other two were watching him do it. "Mr. Dursley, Harry tells me that you're preparing to deliver a presentation in work?"

"That's right," he replied with annoyance, "and it'll go a lot better if you two left me alone to get on with it. I'll never memorise all this by Monday and learn how to deliver this pitch if I don't get some peace!"

"Well, I was thinking that Harry and I could help you out."

"You two help me? I should cocoa!"

"What does that mean?" Harry asked curiously.

"It means that the pair of you are no help at all, now push off before I lose my temper!"

Too late for that, I thought. "Perhaps I should explain what I have in mind. You can rehearse your presentation with the four of us. We'll pretend to be members of the company that you're meeting. If you try out your speech on us, that way you'll get some practice. You could work on the presentation for half an hour or so here, while we go to the kitchen and think of some intelligent questions to ask."

"Intelligent questions?" Dudley repeated, frowning.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of those," I said wryly. "Why not try it, Mr. Dursley? I've run similar practice sessions for former students of mine, when they've been getting ready to apply for jobs, and they usually consider it to be a useful experience. And after all, you've nothing to lose."

He looked doubtful. "Well… what do you think, Petunia?"

She looked at me. I suspected she wanted to say no, but she could also see that it might be a good idea. "I suppose we could try it."

"Yes, but at the office I'll have a whiteboard to list the main points I'll be covering. There are a couple of flip charts we'll be using as well."

I drew my wand. "If you'll allow me, Mr. Dursley?"

He sighed in a long-suffering way. "If you must."

I waved my wand and conjured two flip charts plus a large whiteboard with marker pens, a pointing stick and a duster. Even Dudley looked quite impressed at this. "Anything else?" I asked.

"No, that'll be enough for a practice. You'll make them go away again afterwards?" he asked suspiciously.

I nodded. "Of course. And if I might suggest, don't try and memorise those notes because it'll just be confusing. Just write up a few memory cards with bullet points, they'll be useful reminders to you."

"I know what I'm doing!" he retorted.

"I'm sure you do," I replied soothingly. "So, we'll go to the kitchen. When you're finished preparing, come and get us. By the way, what's the name of the company which you will be meeting?"

"Farnell Barrow Construction," he replied smugly. "They're a very big name in the building industry, I can tell you. We're trying to sell them a large order of drills for use with a contract they've just landed in France. The French Government is building a massive new industrial complex somewhere near Lille, and Farnell Barrow are one of the main contractors."

"In that case, having a practice session now is only good sense," I told him. "Let's go, everyone."

I hustled the other three into the kitchen and closed the door. "Let's run through how we should approach this," I said. "Firstly, we need to take it seriously. That means no messing around or laughing," I told the boys, both of whom looked faintly guilty at that, as if I'd legilimised them and discovered their secret, nefarious plans. "Now remember, we're all going to be pretending to be Farnell Barrow employees. So don't you think we should look the part?" I whipped out my wand, and before anyone could protest I had transfigured all of our outfits into muggle business attire.

Harry laughed. "I'm wearing a suit and tie! I look like a teacher!"

"Where did my normal clothes go?" Dudley asked, staring down at himself in confusion.

I did not intend to explain the complex magic of transfiguration to a boy of his restricted mental calibre. "They're just gone away for a little while. I'll bring them back after the meeting."

"You'd better!" Petunia huffed. "And what about these questions we're supposed to be asking?"

"We'll get to those in a moment," I said, rather enjoying myself. "But first, we may as well decide what our jobs are in the company. Dudley, how would you like to be Chief Executive Officer?"

"What's that?"

"It means you're in charge," I said crisply. "The top boss, in fact." This seemed appropriate, given that his parents catered to his every whim most of the time.

"Cool!" he said, looking pleased.

I turned to Petunia. "And you can be Chief Financial Officer," I said. Again a logical choice for one so money-grabbing. "Harry, how would you like to be Head of Innovation and Change?"

"Okay," he said, smirking. "And what will you be, Professor?"

"Head of Customer Relations," I replied with a grin. Another swish of my wand and we all had badges pinned to our jackets with our name and role on. "Now, when Mr. Dursley talks about his business, we all need to seem interested and keen to learn more. Also, try to laugh if he seems to be making a joke. I know that none of us knows anything much about drills, but that won't matter because he'll be doing all of the talking. So, let's work on these questions…"

Twenty minutes later, Vernon Dursley opened the door to the kitchen and stared in amazement at us. His mouth opened but no sound emerged. Suppressing a grin, I stood up and held out my hand. "Ah, Mr. Dursley is it? Nice to meet you. I'm Severus Snape. These are my colleagues – Petunia Dursley, Dudley Dursley and Harry Potter."

"Erm yes," he said. "Nice to meet you too." He shook hands with each of us, while Harry and Dudley just about managed to keep a straight face.

"I'm the top boss of the company, just so you're aware," Dudley said self-importantly.

"Ah right, that's helpful to know," Vernon said faintly. "Now, would you like to follow me to the living, erm, to the boardroom?"

We sat down in the living room, and I noticed that the whiteboard and flip chart were now completely filled up with notes and diagrams. Clearly this would be a serious rehearsal, and I hoped (entirely for Harry's and my sake) that it went well. I had set out a strategy for the meeting in the kitchen and dished out a third of the questions each to Harry, Dudley and Petunia. They all had them written out on pieces of paper. I had no questions of my own pre-prepared, but I intended to pick up on whatever Vernon said as we went along. Amusingly, the man actually looked nervous as he turned to face us. I was pleased to see that he'd accepted my suggestion of using cards with bullet points on, rather than a scripted presentation.

"So, welcome to Grunnings," Vernon said, gabbling slightly. "As we say here, you'd have to drill a long way down to find a better company to work with!"

Harry and Dudley, clearly recognising that this was meant to be humorous, giggled dutifully. Petunia and I managed to smile. "We've heard as much," I said. "By the way, would you like us to ask any questions during your presentation or save them to the end?"

"Erm, asking them as we go would probably be best," he said. "Well, if you're ready then I'll start. Grunnings is a company with a worldwide reputation in the manufacture and delivery of drills and drill parts for all purposes. I'm keen to show you what we can do. Why, if you look at this chart to the left you'll see…" and so on, and so on. I can't bring myself to quote all of it. To summarise, it was a self-congratulatory monologue about Grunnings being the most wonderful drill supplier in the Northern hemisphere and a gift to all humankind. We nodded along as a group and pretended to be interested.

After a few minutes, Harry raised a hand. "Mr. Dursley, as you probably know our build team are going to be based in France for the duration of this contract. Will Grunnings be able to provide us with on-site support if needed?" He asked the question carefully, since he was concentrating on reading it out word for word.

Vernon nodded firmly. "Absolutely! Our engineers are experienced in worldwide drilling conditions and they regularly work on projects all over the globe. Why, only last month we sent a team out to assist with the installing of drills for work on a new dam in Brazil."

"How do you overcome the language barrier in situations like that?" I asked casually.

"Ah well, often the company we're working with can supply interpreters, or if not we'll hire them ourselves. Assuming we don't speak the language, that is. For the Brazilian work, for example, we had a Spanish speaker on our team who led the communications."

Petunia raised a hesitant hand. "I think they speak Portuguese out there, don't they?"

"Er yes, you're quite right," he replied, blushing. "What I meant to say was, a Spanish member of the team also knows Portuguese and was able to translate there."

"Excellent," I said quickly. "I can see that languages won't be a problem then. Now, please do continue with your most enlightening presentation." Dudley snorted with laughter at this point, but went on to turn it into a cough, which fooled nobody.

"Of course," Vernon said. "Now, I should talk about quality control. We have a rigorous process of testing our products – that's before, during and after the production process. This is a key factor in—"

"I have a question!" Dudley said, interrupting loudly. He looked down at his notes and frowned. "What… in your opinion… are the main… reasons why… your company… should be given our… business instead… of… a comp… etitor?"

Well, I can't imagine anything more off-putting than his snail-slow method of reciting the question, but I suppose it did give his father plenty of time to think of an answer.

"Ah! Well, we're basically the best, not just in terms of quality but also range," Vernon said. "We carry one of the widest selection of drills and associated parts and products in Europe. And our prices are highly competitive too, with favourable discounts offered for large orders."

At this point he was looking at Dudley expectantly, possibly waiting for some kind of positive reaction. If so then he might have waited a long time, as the boy was sitting there with the self-satisfied look of one who felt he'd done his bit and need do no more. However, Harry diverted Vernon's attention at this point by raising a hand.

"Mr. Dursley, if we placed an order by the end of this month, for example, then what would be the lead-in time for delivery?"

"Hmm, well that depends on whether the parts are pre-made or require specialist assembly," Vernon said, now looking more confident. "Anything that we have in our warehouses could be delivered within a couple of weeks, and possibly less if a priority delivery was requested. The manufacturing time for customised or out of stock products would be between four to eight weeks, depending on quantity and difficulty levels."

"That sounds, erm, fine with us," Harry replied bemusedly. I smiled at this; I suspected that he'd have said the same even if the timescale was four to eight years.

"Not a problem!" Vernon boomed. "Now, let me talk you through our order process…"

We continued in the same vein for another thirty minutes, with Vernon pouring out facts about Grunnings and its complete dominance in the world of drilling, while the rest of us steadily worked through our questions. Certainly the man knew his own business well enough, or so seemed to me, and he dealt with the majority of the queries raised without any difficulty. This was perhaps quite impressive, given that most of them weren't asked in any logical order, and indeed they often bore no relation to whatever Vernon was actually saying at the time. On a few occasions he was unable to provide a full answer to a question, but he handled this well enough by telling us as much as he could and promising to provide the rest of the information later on.

"And that just about wraps it up!" Vernon concluded. "So, I'll finish by saying that I hope you're pleased with what you've heard, and if you've any further questions then please get in touch. Thank you for your time, and we look forward to doing business with you!"

There was a brief pause, then Petunia started clapping and Dudley joined in. With an amused glance at Harry, we did the same.

"That was wonderful, Vernon!" Petunia said. "I think we we're all very impressed. Didn't he do well, Dudley?"

"Yeah, it was great Dad."

"I don't see how they can fail to give you the contract, dear. Why, you didn't put a foot wrong!"

"Apart from that Brazil gaffe," he said gloomily. "I don't want a repeat of that on the day, I can tell you! And there were those three or four questions that I didn't know the answers to."

"The important thing is that you quickly recovered and didn't let it put you off," she reassured him.

"I quite agree," I commented, actually meaning it. "Harry and I both feel that you delivered the facts masterfully, don't we, Harry?"

"Yeah, totally," he said, making an effort to look sincere. "I hope it goes well on Monday, Uncle Vernon."

"Well, I expect I'll be all right. And a rehearsal was a good idea, I have to admit." He glanced across at me. "Thanks for suggesting it."

In all of my visits here, this was the first time I had ever been thanked for anything, and it took me entirely by surprise. "You're welcome," I replied. "I'm glad it helped."

"I don't suppose you can leave this whiteboard and the flip charts here for a bit? I can have another go on my own then."

"That's fine." I took out my wand and cast a quick spell. "Just tap them three times and say 'disappear' when you're finished with them."

I took the opportunity to change our clothes back to normal at the same time, and Dudley looked faintly disappointed at this. "I liked being top boss," he said.

"You can be in charge again when I practice later, son," Vernon promised. "I'll spend an hour or so refining the presentation and then we'll go again."

"Can I borrow one of your jackets and a tie when we do?"

"Of course," Vernon said, chuckling. "Got to look the part, haven't you?"

"Good luck with it," I said. "Now, shall we be on our way, Harry?"

"Cool. I'll just go and get my scarf." Harry brought down his Appleby Arrows scarf (he'd designated us both as official Arrows fans immediately after we first watched them in a quidditch match), and then we were on our way.

"That was kind of fun to do," Harry admitted as we walked down the street. Whiffle the cat strolled over to say hello and we paused to stroke him.

"Well, I scored my first Dursley thank you, which certainly added to the entertainment value. So, do you have anything that you'd like to do this morning?"

"I suppose it's too early to go and get all my stuff for Hogwarts?" he said hopefully.

"I'm afraid so. We're still working on the textbook choices, but I promise that I'll let you know when we're ready. I'll bring you an advance copy of the list of things to purchase if you like, so that you can go shopping before anyone else."

He looked thoughtful. "Thanks, but I think maybe I'd like to wait until I get my actual letter. I will get one, won't I? They won't not send me one, just because I know you?"

"Oh no, you'll receive the standard letter when they're despatched."

"Good. Well, it's a nice day. Maybe we could paddle in the sea at Brighton beach instead?"

"Of course. However, I do have a couple of things to discuss with you first. Shall we go to the park for a little while?"

"Okay."

We sat ourselves down on a park bench and Harry looked at me expectantly. "I was wondering if you might be interested in this," I said, and I showed him the Mook Farm Summer Fair leaflet.

He read it through and grinned. "We are so going, Professor. It'll be great!"

"I thought you might like the idea. Mr. Mook encouraged me to enter JP in some of the canine competitions; he mentioned fetching and hay bale jumping."

"Well, that might be nice, but what if JP gets a bit stressed and worried that he won't do well?"

"I don't suppose he'll suffer from performance anxiety, if that's what you mean."

"But he'll be one of the youngest dogs there – he's still only a puppy."

"True, but any competitions he entered would be against other puppies of his own age. He wouldn't win anything of course, but that won't matter to him because he probably won't even understand what's going on."

"Why not?"

"How can I put this, so that I convey the point clearly, yet tactfully? Ah yes… that dog is a complete idiot."

"No, he's not!"

"He is. I've known potions ingredients with better brains. He thinks that the suits of armour at Hogwarts are alive. He regularly takes a ball and sits in front of one of them, hoping that they'll throw it for him if he waits long enough."

"Well, they must look like people so it's an easy mistake to make."

"Harry, he barely knows how to walk through an open door."

"Hey, that was just the one time!"

"One time that you've seen. But don't worry, the issue is easily solved. If it so happens that JP messes up and realises it, I will advise him that it's the taking part which matters, not the winning. I'm sure he'll feel better after that."

Harry crossed his arms and glared at me. "I don't think that'll be enough. I don't want him to be upset, you know."

"Fine… I will speak to him reassuringly. I will give him many fulsome compliments. I will pat his little head. I will stroke his little back. I will tell him that yes, he really is a good boy. I will use words of utmost praise. I will—"

"Okay okay, I get it! As long as you do all that, I expect he'll be fine."

I grinned at him. "He's always fine, I will say that for him. He has a sunny personality. As one of the staff at Mook's said to me last week, he might not be the smartest dog in the pack but he's usually the most friendly."

"Well, I think he has hidden talents and he'll win at least one thing," Harry insisted.

"His talents must be very well hidden…" Harry gave me another glare and I smiled at him. "Never mind that. I do have another matter to discuss. You remember how I explained that your father had three best friends in school? Well, one of them wrote to the Headmaster the other day and asked if he could get in touch with you."

"Really? Do you mean Mr. Lupin? He's the only one left, isn't he, apart from the one in prison?"

"Yes. As you have those spells in place preventing unauthorised owls from approaching you, I asked him to send his letter to me so that I could pass it on to you. Here it is."

I handed the letter over. I was about to suggest that Harry could read it later in private if he wanted to but he immediately opened it. "Mr. Lupin says he saw my picture in the paper and I look a lot like my Dad. He wants to know if he can see me."

Of course he does. "That could be arranged, if you'd like. We might invite him over to Puffin Place for lunch or something."

"You wouldn't mind?"

"No, it's fine. He's your father's old friend, so he can tell you a lot more about him than I ever could. We could set up a meeting for our next Saturday out in two weeks' time."

"Well, I would like to see him," Harry admitted. "Do you think JP could be there too? I know we said that we'd keep his real name a secret, but I think Mr. Lupin would like to know that he was named after my Dad."

I didn't intend for a minute to let JP anywhere near Lupin, as there was every chance that my dog would sense the underlying wolf and react badly to it. "Best not to involve JP, in case Lupin isn't a dog lover. You can explain to him about the name though, and show him a photograph."

Harry pulled a face. "But isn't a real live dog better than just a picture of one? And everyone likes JP, you know that Professor."

"No JP," I replied firmly. "And that's my final decision on the matter."

"You're no fun at all. Sometimes I wonder why I put up with you," he said, gesturing dramatically.

"Ditto."

"Oh, there's a winning argument."

I laughed. "Shall I write to Lupin and invite him to Puffin Place for lunch in a fortnight, then?"

"Don't you think you ought to call him Mr. Lupin, or Remus?"

I sighed. "If you wish. Shall I write to Mr. Lupin then?"

"Okay – but, I want you to ask him about JP at the same time and see what he says, all right?"

"Very well then. Come along, it's time to head to the beach. Try not to splash me too much, will you? I can't easily use drying charms when there are muggles close by."

"Yeah, I know," he said, grinning slyly. Glancing in his direction, I could see quite well what he intended. Well, if I was going to get soaked then I'd make very sure that I wasn't the only one…

As agreed, I sent a short but polite note to 'Mr. Lupin' that evening, inviting him to Puffin Place for lunch. Referring to JP's presence or otherwise, I added: "Harry asked me to bring my dog JP along as he wanted you to meet him, but I thought perhaps it would be advisable for him to not be present?" In his reply, Lupin accepted the invite and agreed that it might be best for JP not to join us. I wondered how the meeting would go, and whether Lupin would choose to reveal his werewolf alter ego to Harry. I would understand if he decided to keep it a secret, but I would assuredly ask for Harry to be told about it if Lupin remained in contact with him going forward. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.

I was at breakfast in the Great Hall two days later when Professor McGonagall came up to me and asked if I could visit her office after the end of the day's lessons, since she wanted to discuss some changes to next term's class schedules with me. I readily agreed to do so, thinking to myself with amusement that it was a little early for our usual round of timetable arguments to start. However, when I arrived at her office that afternoon, only Professor Sinistra was present.

"Come in, Severus," she said, looking serious, "and close the door." With a flick of her wand, she locked it.

"Are you here for the scheduling meeting also, Aurora?"

"There is no scheduling meeting. I asked Minerva to request your presence here so that we could speak in confidence without anyone knowing. She does not know why. Minerva took the floo back to her quarters a few minutes ago and I arrived here by floo as well. As far as anyone else knows, you're talking to her right now and I'm not here at all."

"I see. And may I enquire as to the reason for this careful secrecy?"

"Two days ago, I had a visit from a group of Slytherin students. They wanted to speak to me in confidence, and I agreed to that request."

I had a deep feeling of foreboding. "Then surely you should not be telling me this?"

"It's only the topics we discussed which I promised to keep secret. They didn't think to ask me to conceal the existence of the conversation."

"Careless of them," I remarked, attempting a casual tone which even to my own ears did not ring true.

"Yes, well, they are only young."

"So, why are you telling me this?"

She gave me a very direct look. "I was rather hoping that you could deduce what they might have wanted to say to me."

I frowned, thinking furiously. My own concerns about the Slytherin students' interactions with me, Tiberius Glasson stepping down as prefect, the continuing drop in the number of Slytherins stopping by my office for advice over the last few weeks…

"I can only think – out with the old, in with the new?"

She said nothing, gave away nothing, but I could tell that I'd read the situation correctly.

"Have they actually made a decision, Aurora?"

"I can't answer that."

"I see."

My mind was whirling, desperately trying to latch onto the implications. There was so much that I didn't know… and that Aurora did. It might be that I could get her to tell me more, if I phrased my questions correctly. After all, if she wasn't prepared to say anything else then she'd have been back through the floo by now.

"I must apologise if you have been placed in an awkward situation through any actions of mine," I said sincerely. "That was certainly never my attention."

She inclined her head in acknowledgement of the apology. "I'm sure it wasn't."

"Of course I realise that you can't tell me anything that those students said to you. However, if there is any other pertinent information which you think I might benefit from knowing then I'd be grateful if you could share it."

She leaned forward. "As it happens, they said very little to me. They were cagey – intensely so. That does, of course, give me more leeway in what I can tell you; but you should be aware that I may be limited in my own knowledge as well."

"That's understood."

"Well then, from what I've heard, there are many Slytherin students who are speculating as to whether you've basically been deceiving them the whole way through."

I stared at her. "Why would they think that?"

She shrugged. "Have you ever seen that drawing game for little children, join the dots? You draw a line from one point to another, and then to another, and if you keep going then before long you can see a picture on the page which was previously hidden. And that's what they are doing with you."

I didn't like the sound of this at all. "Could you elaborate?"

"Do you really need me to?"

I very much feared not. "Yes."

"Very well," she said patiently. "Let's start with the winter before last, when you suddenly gave up persecuting the non-Slytherin students and started acting like a decent human being towards them. At which time, you basically told the Slytherins that you'd been threatened with dismissal by the Headmaster if you didn't change your ways. They believed you then, but it's become less of a credible story now that you and he have bought a house together. You don't make plans to sack a person one minute and then move in with them the next."

"But it has been eighteen months since then, and my relationship with the Headmaster has improved considerably during that period."

"Even so, it's rather dubious to them – as is your connection with Joshua Hutchinson. The Slytherins used to think you were making use of him, nothing more; but now they know you've been round to his friend's house in the holidays, not to mention that you actually attended his uncle's wedding! So they have concluded that in reality, you genuinely like that muggleborn student."

"I see."

"Of course, there is also the highly significant matter of your relationship with Harry Potter," she continued. "You have publicly demonstrated your fondness for him, and clearly this is reciprocated – he gave you the dog, for example. And even if you aren't planning to have him move in with you, it's clear for all to see that you're very close to each other. You are the head of a house which contains a number of students from dark magic backgrounds, and many whose families were opponents of Harry Potter's family and their associates during the war. I'm sure I don't need to tell you therefore how your links to him have been perceived by some of the more traditional students and their families."

I nodded. 'Traditional' was a word used in Slytherin circles as a euphemism for blood purist leanings, and it was connected strongly to support of the Dark Lord. Yes, I'm sure such people wouldn't like what I was doing at all. "Anything else?" I asked dryly.

"Unfortunately, yes. It was hard enough for them to come to terms with your connection to Harry Potter, but as you've chosen to be housemates, they now know you have strong ties to the Headmaster as well, which is a much more serious matter. In fact, it is probably the most significant concern of all, to them. There is no such thing as a Slytherin student who is loyal to Albus Dumbledore, as well you know. That being so, there is a rising sense of anger because you are blatantly allying yourself to him. The Slytherins think that you have become too loyal to the Headmaster, possibly at their cost. They feel that they might no longer be able to count on your support, or your discretion."

I was stung by this. "That is entirely not the case. I do still know how to keep a secret, Aurora."

"I'm sure you do, but I'm telling you what they think. And finally, there is the offer you made a little while ago to resign as head of Slytherin."

"They object to that?" I said incredulously. "Why? I did it for them!"

"Did you?"

"Yes I bloody well did, and why would they think otherwise?"

She gave me a look which clearly suggested that I was an idiot for not seeing the point. "There are three possible interpretations of your offer to stand down which are being debated. The first is that it was a genuine and unselfish act. The second is that you were banking on the fact that if you encouraged them to consider getting rid of you that they'd be less inclined to do so. What do the muggles call it – reverse psychology?"

"Yes. And the third interpretation?"

"That one is the most damning," she said gravely. "There are those who think you don't care any more about leading the Slytherins – and in fact you wanted them to accept the offer, so that you no longer needed to be their head of house."

"That is entirely not the case!" I roared. "And just to mention, the second and third explanations directly contradict each other. If I'm going to the trouble of being sneakily psychological then I obviously do care about staying on."

"I know that; I'm just explaining the views which some of your students possess. Don't hex the messenger, Severus."

"I'm sorry, Aurora," I said guiltily. "I'm not angry at you. I just wouldn't have expected them to think such things."

"Perhaps it's inevitable they would, in the circumstances. You've changed, Severus; I can see that, and so can they. Perhaps you've changed too much for them to handle. But I wonder if you realise what the most damning thing is about all of this?"

"What?"

"That I have needed to explain it to you at all. In the past you'd have realised it yourself, and long before now as well." I flinched at this, even as I accepted the truth of it.

"Yes, I suppose that's right."

The expression on her face softened fractionally. "You're like a boat which hasn't been tied up to the harbour wall properly, and so it's gradually drifting out to sea, and it will keep drifting further away unless something is done to stop it. Until recently you've always had a marvellous, intuitive understanding of the Slytherin students; what they think, what they want, what they need. I have admired that understanding and also known that I could never replicate it. However, it has occurred to me recently that I may have other qualities which the Slytherins would value instead."

I looked at her, and she returned my gaze unflinchingly. We were the only two Slytherin Professors on staff. Aurora would be the natural replacement for me, and of course she knew it. She had deputised for me many times when I was visiting Harry. If she wanted the role…

"What matters to me more than anything is meeting the needs of the Slytherin students," I said carefully. "It's possible that they would be better served by having yourself as head of house, I suppose."

To my surprise, she immediately shook her head. "Don't be an idiot, Severus! That's not my reading of the situation at all."

"It's not?"

"No, it definitely isn't. You often tell the Slytherin students that ambition is a quality which, like magic, works best when it is sharply focused. Do you know, Severus, what my ambitions are?"

I considered this. I got on well with Professor Sinistra but she rarely opened up about personal things. "I do not."

"I want to create a new branch of Astronomy, focused on making use of muggle astronomical knowledge."

"Muggle science? You can't be serious."

"Oh, I very much am. Of all of the subjects taught in this school, mine is really the only one with a proper muggle equivalent. The muggles are investing heavily in space exploration. They're sending rockets into space, launching satellites, exploring other planets, learning more about our galaxy and other galaxies every year… and they publicise the results! They tell everyone! There's so much that magical society can learn from them," she said, her eyes shining with passion. "I want to know everything of importance that they know, and then work out how we can turn it to our advantage. The muggles invented trains and built railway stations, and then we made use of those discoveries to create the Hogwarts Express. This is no more than the astronomical version of that process."

"I have to admit, Aurora, that is quite brilliant."

"Well, it's only a concept for now," she admitted. "I'm planning to talk to the Headmaster about it soon. I'd like to teach it as an optional add-on for the more advanced students next term, and I need to free up some of my own time to carry out research into the latest muggle discoveries. I can manage that if we can make some changes to the timing of the astronomy classes going forward."

"Ah, so this is a scheduling meeting after all!"

"I don't think this is a good time for jokes, Severus," she replied acidly.

"My apologies" I said humbly. "Please continue."

"The point is," she said, giving me a nasty look, "that with all of my plans and ideas relating to new developments in Astronomy to focus on, the last thing I want to do right now is be put in charge of the Slytherins. Spending my precious spare time sorting out student arguments and placating annoyed parents is hardly my idea of fun. You're welcome to keep the role! In fact, I very much hope that you do, because this is the worst possible thing to happen, as far as I'm concerned. It could wreck everything I've planned for. Everything, Severus."

"I see. I'm sorry. I should have considered the implications for you of my own actions more carefully."

"Well, you couldn't have known about what I'm working on," she conceded, "but please, get your house in order! Literally! I'll do the job if I have to because that would be no more than my duty, given that there aren't any other Slytherin staff for the headmaster to choose instead, but it's absolutely not what I want."

"I understand. Thank you for your honesty, Aurora; it's a great help."

She stood up and moved to the fireplace. "Slytherin house is yours to lose, Severus. Make sure that you choose your next step wisely."