He turned his mind back to the task at hand, hearing Tosca grumbling from her perch. The part of him that was falcon, ever since that first night he had shown her what he was capable of, could now understand what she was saying. Carry letters for you, she said in a miffed tone, go flying through storms, listen to your rants, teach you to fly…I tell you, Severus, I had better get something good from this. I want some decent food to start. You've been forgetting me because of your project--and that hedgehog I caught last night was almost impossible to eat.
He laughed slightly and handed her a piece of meat, which she eagerly began ripping at. He had known she was a bird of strong opinions, but now that he understood her speech, she was proving to be quite the wit. She had already coerced him into leaving the hood off, and removing her anklets, telling him flat-out that she had no plan of escaping.
He then gritted his teeth as suddenly the Dark Mark flared to life, smoldering in his flesh. So soon? he thought. Am I ready?
"Tosca, dear," he said, putting a smooth, purring tone into his voice despite the pain, "would you say I've learned fairly well this past week?" He'd have to turn on the charm to get her to agree with this.
Not hopeless, came the agreement. For a human, she added disdainfully. He gave her that, remembering ruefully how she had saved his neck when he had fallen from the Astronomy Tower, figuring out the hard way that he didn't know how to fly. The Animagus transformation apparently did not come complete with animal instincts. As though he was a helpless, newly feathered chick, she had taught him to fly, to hunt, and in general to be able to pass for a falcon like any other. I could almost be fond of you, she went on teasingly, if you didn't insist on spending your time in that ugly human form. Come on, Sev, fly away into the sunset with me!
"Imagine what the children would look like," he muttered, raising an eyebrow. "No, Tosca, I need to go out flying tonight, and," he was almost wheedling, "I need your help." This is what I get--before, I told her to do something and she did it. And now I'm pleading with a bird, for Heaven's sake!
She lazily stretched her wings. And what is it? Your Mark is acting up again? Well, you're quite prepared to go spy.
"I need you to come with me," he replied. "They might possibly suspect one falcon sitting there nearby, but if they see two of us, they'll probably think nothing of it. You know the sort--act like we're hunting and the like and they'll have no interest in us." They'd assume them to be mates, possibly on the lookout for a nest site. After all, the presence of a pair of gyrfalcon Animagi would be indeed very odd, and an Animagus would probably not be wasting time hunting if he or she were on a mission. He grimaced. "And besides, if I get caught, I'd need you to come back and get word to Dumbledore." Not that he would expect the old man to bargain for him--he knew the risk he took on in this dangerous game. A spy caught was a spy brutally executed. But he would owe Dumbledore an explanation of what he had been up to and his fate.
Why should I get involved with this? she asked suspiciously. I've no interest in a group of humans lollying around in robes and masks and kissing some stupid prig's feet while babbling nonsense. This is your idea of-- He wondered where she had found that out.
He cut her off. "All right, all right. Come with me and we'll spend all of Saturday hunting," he pleaded. "I promise. You deserve a day out after all you've done. I'll understand if you're too afraid--"
She fluffed her feathers and hissed in ire, looking twice her size. Nobody calls Tosca afraid! She really was a little Gryffindor in some aspects--easy to manipulate. Her wit was at least distinctly Slytherin.
"Very well," he replied, finishing writing the note to Dumbledore in case the plan failed. Using a Shrinking Charm, he carefully hid it beneath one of her breast feathers with a Fastening Charm. She could easily pluck it away and hand it to Dumbledore, who would know what to do to it.
Do you know where you're going? Tosca asked suspiciously.
"I'm not a complete idiot," he said shortly, grabbing his wand so that he could eventually Apparate the two of them a little distance away from the manor so that he could transform. If they flew there it would be all night.
She gave him a withering look. I'm bigger than you when you're a bird, me boyo, she pointed out smugly. True--the female falcon was larger than the male. And you haven't been to these things in how many years? They often meet in the Malfoy Manor. I've seen them there when I flew over towards the Ministry.
"Astute little spy, aren't you." He gently took her in hand, she careful not to grasp him too tightly with her talons. Carefully exiting the castle so as not to be seen, he then Apparated from the edge of the Forbidden Forest to a spot a little ways down the road from Malfoy Manor. They would have to fly in close, and he would have to perform a Sonorous Charm on the window of the room they were meeting in, so he could hear through it. Thankfully, a mage in Animagus form could still perform spells, so long as their wand had been on their person when they transformed. Trying to perch on a tree branch after shifting to human form, perform the charm, and transforming back without getting caught would be a bit much, especially since he was still a beginner.
He shuddered to remember the horrors committed at Malfoy Manor in the old days. Well, now he would do his part again to end the terror and depravity of Voldemort and those who followed him.
Within two minutes, Lucius Malfoy noticed an interesting sight as he looked out the window, looking for Crabbe and Goyle nervously. Those two idiots probably didn't know what time was, let alone to keep track of it. The Dark Lord was growing impatient for all his Death Eaters to arrive.
Two falcons flew outside in an interesting display, having flushed a hare from the grounds. The small black one dove at it, cunningly forcing it to turn back in fear, and there the bigger white one was waiting and ready. It missed clumsily though, and the hare dove into its burrow. Lucius smirked. Darkness always was cleverer anyhow, and it never paid to rely on others. The Dark Lord knew that as well as he did.
Albus Dumbledore was awakened early in the morning by a faint screeching noise coming from the foot of the bed. He blearily opened his eyes, fumbled for his wand on the bedside table, and whispered, "Lumos!" Immediately the room lit up so that he saw a pair of falcons sitting on the footboard. One he recognized as Severus' Tosca. "Is he all right?" he murmured softly to her. He had seemed all right after his accident in March, but one never knew with Severus. He was altogether too good at hiding himself, he thought regretfully.
Her smaller black companion--a mate?--gave a soft call, stretched out its wings, and its outlines grow blurry, the form melding together and forming itself slowly back into--Severus.
"Good morning," he said. "I'll answer all your questions later, but right now, you must get a message to Varvel Saker to seek safety immediately. McNair, Avery, and Malfoy are going after her tonight." Saker was one of the Ministry's Aurors. Without thought, Dumbledore reached for a quill and a sheet of parchment, writing furiously, and then handing the scroll to Fawkes. The phoenix took off in a blur of flame as he turned to Snape again, suddenly understanding what had happened.
