The Raven
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JKR, various publishers of the HP series. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Chapter 2 (uploaded 3/5/04)
After Snape had fallen asleep on Harry's chest, Aunt Petunia called the boy downstairs to clean the kitchen while the family entertained Aunt Marge in the sitting room. Snape woke up alone in the bedroom, in his shoebox, on top of the trunk. As he surveyed the room and tried to think of a plan, Marge's dog padded into the room and stuck his nose into the shoebox. Snape fluttered and squawked, tipping the shoebox and dumping himself onto the floor. He tried to run for cover under the bed, but all he could manage in his current form was a slow waddle. He hadn't yet gotten the hang of coordinating the swing of his tail feathers with his steps to increase his speed. Besides, he was dragging a heavily bandaged wing.
Harry was just passing the threshold of the kitchen door when he heard the squawking and barking from his room. He ran up the stairs, taking three at a time and rescued the raven from the jaws of the dog. Uncle Vernon had to pause at the top of the stairs to catch his breath. That gave Harry enough time to slide the bird under the bed as the dog ran out the door. "Shhh, quiet," he whispered.
"BOY, you know to keep your owl quiet! You are confined to your room until the morning. No supper!" Harry slid down the wall to sit on the floor in his disappointment. After the beefy purple-faced man stomped out of the room, Dudley came in to add injury to insult and kicked him in the gut. "Freak," Dudley spat out. The door slammed shut and a dozen clicks of door locks could be heard from the other side.
Harry panted on the floor clutching his stomach. Snape waddled over to the boy on the hard floor and attempted to preen the mess of black hair until Harry finally uncurled from his fetal position. "Ow, okay, I'm up. I'm up already." Harry rubbed his head, as Snape's first attempt at preening practically pulled his hairs out. "Thank you, anyway."
Harry sat up slowly and scooped up the black bird to cradle it against his chest. Snorting, he said to the bird, "I wish I could be a bird and fly away. I like flying. I'm a, um, well, I WAS the seeker for my house Quidditch team since my first year. I had never been on a broom before, you know, and this other kid, Malfoy, stole my roommate, Neville's, rememberall. He threw 50 feet to the ground to smash it, but I flew after it and saved it. My head of house witnessed my catch and my flying and she let me try out for the team captain. I miss my broom. It got taken away by a frog named Umbridge last year. I'd like to feed her to you and Hedwig. Maybe not, she might give you indigestion." Tired and weakening, the black bird, once again tucked its beak under its good wing.
Just after dark, Hedwig returned with a couple small pouches. She took a sip of water before gliding down to sit next to Harry on his bed. When she nuzzled her face into Harry's shirt, she was rewarded by getting her neck and back ruffled while he read Hagrid's instructions. In one pouch, Hagrid had sent a powdered formula and an eye dropper. In the other, Hagrid had sent along a rock cake. As hungry as he was, Harry was happy to have something to put in his stomach, but first he needed to attend to his patient.
"Hedwig, you haven't been properly introduced. I'm calling our new guest Professor Snape. Professor, this is Hedwig." Hedwig hooted softly. The raven, coo'd back. It went back and forth while Harry got off the bed to mix the formula with water.
"Hi there," Hedwig hooted. "I guess you didn't get my message about Dudley and his air gun.
"Hey, I can understand you. Can you understand me?" Snape coo'd.
"Of course, silly. You have an odd accent, though. You're not from around here, then."
"I was passing through when I was attacked by a hawk. I took refuge in the tree out front."
"I see. What is your real name, then? Harry is calling you after his potions professor as a joke on the professor."
"I know. Actually, I am Severus Snape. Thank the stars, he didn't call me after his godfather." Snape quickly explained how he came to become a raven, then added, "Would you do me favor?"
"Harry doesn't like you because you're mean to him."
"As a favor to Mr. Potter then."
"I'll think about it. What do you want?"
"Harry is left defenseless as his wand is locked up."
"You're telling me?! Do you think I'm flying around all night just for the exercise? No, sir! I'm keeping an eye out for anything strange. I'm taking care of my Harry."
Snape interrupted Hedwig's rant. "Excuse me? My favor?"
"Impatient sort, aren't you. Right. What is it, then?"
"I left my wand in the tree out front. Please bring it to Mr. Potter. I'd like him to have use of it for the mean time."
"Good on ya! Be right back." Hedwig hopped to the window sill and flew into the darkness. Harry assumed she was going out to hunt for food.
Harry scooped up the black bird and set it on his trunk. "Come on, now. You have to eat. Hagrid sent me an aviary formula that will help you get strong. Snape struggled against Harry's grip, surrendering quickly. Harry held the bird's head as gently as he could and shushed it. As Snape struggled, an eye dropper was shoved into his mouth, squeezing mush directly into his throat. Snape could do nothing but gulp and gag as he struggled to breathe.
"There we are," Harry said softly, "all down. You need to drink too, dehydration could be deadly for birds." Harry filled the eyedropper with water and held it for the raven to take at his own pace.
Hedwig hooted from her hover outside Harry's barred window with Snape's wand in her talons. Harry reached out and took the wand handle, allowing Hedwig to ride in on his hand. "Where'd you get this, girl?" Hedwig blinked at Harry. "The handle is engraved with 'S.S.' Hehehe, it couldn't be. Is this yours, Professor?" The black bird was still gagging and coughing, between sips from the dropper. It shook its head to clear its throat, but Harry took it as a 'no.'
"Well, we'll find the owner when we get back to the wizarding world. For now I'll consider it a loan. Thank you, Hedwig." The owl flew back out the window to do her rounds and to find something to eat.
Harry picked at Hagrid's rock cake. It didn't taste bad at all, but it was hard to bite off a decent sized piece, so he scraped off crumbs with his teeth. When it had sat long enough in his mouth, the cake reached a gummy consistency and he had to chew it for a long time before swallowing. Having had experience with Hagrid's cooking, he was actually grateful. He only needed to have a little cake sit in his stomach to feel full for a long time.
Hedwig returned with a frog leg in her beak and offered it to Snape. "No thank you," the raven coo'd, "I just had some avian mush shoved down my throat."
"Uh, that stuff makes me gag. But it does the job. You know, you should start preening when you've got nothing else to do. Your feathers are getting ratty and dull."
Snape blinked. "So what?"
"Okay, watch." Hedwig lifted a wing and, starting from the base of the feather ran her beak along one of the bigger ones. "See how I linked the little barbs together with my tongue? It spreads the oils down the feathers and makes you waterproof. By linking the little barbs, you can hold air under your wings better, that is, when you're flying again. Best prepare now. You always want to be ready to fly."
"So I've learned," Snape replied dryly, before attempting the new task. "Ouch, is this supposed to hurt?"
"No. Allow me to show you." Hedwig hooted to Snape. Chewing on his rock cake, Harry watched with interest while Hedwig hopped over to Snape and preened feathers on his back. They seemed to be communicating with each other.
"That feels good, Hedwig. Thank you."
"No problem, you just needed a little help being a bird. Harry's good about scratching the back of my head. It's about the only area I can't reach. But human fingers will never feel as good as a bird's beak."
Snape picked up the toasted crust of bread and put it in front of Hedwig. "Take it, please. I never would have believed how Potter lives if I hadn't witnessed it myself. All they gave him for lunch was one piece of toast, yet he saved a piece for me."
Hedwig nodded, "That's my Harry." She flew back up to her cage with her frog leg and crust to drop it into her food dish.
~ ~ ~
The hot afternoons found Harry cooling off in the flower bed under the living room window, listening to the television with Snape on his chest. Both Harry and Snape were drifting in and out of sleep until—SQUAWK! Snape, spread his wings and postured to scare away the cat that approached. The cat remained unfazed by the noise and wing span, and sat down next to Harry's head.
"Shhh, be quiet, Snape. Hello, Professor McGonagall. Checking up on me? I'm fine." Harry sat up. "Professor McGonagall, meet Professor Snape. Professor Snape, meet Professor McGonagall. It's not really Professor Snape, that's just what I'm calling him." Snape coo'd to McGonagall's meow.
"Minerva, can you understand me?" the black bird asked. The cat animagus licked its whiskers hungrily. "Damn, I guess I can only talk to birds."
Harry chuckled under his breath. "Please don't eat him, Professor. He was shot out of the air by my cousin. I'm just trying get him well. He's had remarkable improvement since yesterday. Thank Hagrid for me. At least you had the good sense to wait until Aunt Marge and her bulldog went home. Snape almost got eaten last night. He's a feisty fellow, though. He'd probably have turned the dog's stomach sour, so don't you try it."
The raven shook out its tail feathers. 'Yes, you tell her, Potter. Oh, how I wish I could get a message to Dumbledore.'
When she was satisfied with enough information, the cat sauntered away and disappeared under the hedge.
~ ~ ~
Later, Harry carried Snape to the little park down the street. He sat in a swing with Snape preening himself on the boy's lap. Harry pulled the latest copy of the Daily Prophet from his back pocket and read each article to Snape while inserting his own, whenever Minister Fudge or any one of the Death Eaters was mentioned.
"Hey, in the classified ads. SS, found your robes. Contact MF." Harry laughed, "SS seems to be losing a lot of his stuff. Maybe I should take out an ad about the wand."
The raven attempted a glare at the Gryffindor student, but not being at eye level, it went unnoticed, so Snape bit the closest finger to him, causing Harry to jump out of the swing. That got Snape dumped into the sand. "Ow, that was not nice, Snape. Sometimes you really behave like the wizard I named you after. I should make you walk back home." The bird squawked back, turned and started waddling away.
"Wait. Stop. Okay, I'm sorry, but you hurt me. I'm ready to go home and you're not ready to be on your own." Harry was on top of Snape within two strides and scooped him off the ground as several cats crawled out from the under the bushes. While Harry stroked from Snape's neck down to his chest with a finger, he said, "After all I've done for you, I'm just not ready to let you get eaten by the neighborhood cat. Did you see how fast they came out of hiding when you were on the ground?"
That night, Harry slept fitfully. Snape hopped out of his shoebox and made his way to Harry's pillow. Hedwig flew out of her cage and landed heavily on Harry's chest to wake him out of the nightmare he was having. Harry opened his eyes to see two pairs of birds eyes looking down at him, beaks practically on his face. "Sorry, guys, did I wake you?" Harry unconsciously rubbed the scar on his forehead.
"Voldemort is angry that he lost another Death Eater at the hands of one of their own. He must have been an important wizard to be so angry." Harry punched his pillow, causing Snape to jump up and flutter back down. "Sorry, Snape. I need to learn Occlumency to keep Voldemort out of my head but I don't get it. My professor tells me to clear my mind, but I can't just stop my mind from working. How do you just think of nothing? It sounds contradictory."
The raven coo'd and Hedwig hooted as if they were talking to Harry. "I wish I could understand you two. Snape, not you, my teacher thinks I'm weak because I act on my emotions. I'm a person, I've got feelings. Not like him, he's hard and cold like some kind of reptile in the dead of winter. He bullies me like my dad and my godfather used to bully him. But I'm not my dad, I don't deserve that. He thinks I'm spoiled and big headed because I'm famous. Do I live like I'm famous? I'd be really screwed up if I didn't always know deep in my heart how much my mum loved me. I've got her green eyes, you know. I'll bet I have her heart, too." With that out of his system, Harry yawned and laid his head back on the pillow, soothed by the soft cooing and hooting between the birds.
"Hedwig?" Snape coo'd.
"Yes?" Hedwig hooted back.
"I tried to talk to a cat animagus today."
"Harry's transfiguration teacher, then."
"Yes."
"I guess I sound like a typical bird to her. I think she wanted to eat me."
"Don't bother me with this."
"This is important."
"Not so far."
"Harry said you can talk to small animals. You warned them about his cousin."
"I am a magical creature. I can communicate directly with other birds and animals. You are a wizard, currently in the form of a bird. An ordinary bird because you're not an animagus. Ordinary creatures cannot communicate directly across species. Natural enemies or not, what they don't know by instinct, they learn to read and influence by behavior."
"Then shouldn't I have been able to understand what she said?"
"I've never talked to her in her cat form. I don't know how well she pays attention. Sorry."
To be continued...
~ ~ ~
Author's Notes: A big thank you to my reviewers: zol, relative1983, Anne, Lady S, Andromeda Snape-Malfoy, ShiTiger, WittchWay, yasha, KC, Mikee, Unseen Watcher, penny, Anora, Alynna Lis Eachann, spacecatdet, Breanna, M. C. R., chickens, Kateri1, ataraxis, Chrissie, lilith, samson, Sky, Gina , dave gerecke, athenakitty, JilLLsTeR, Emortis13, Luna Potter/Took, anon. A couple names hadn't shown up yet before I uploaded.
I've never had so many reviews after only one chapter. Perhaps I should also thank FFN for their problems, leaving my story near the top of the lists for so long and giving it lots of exposure time. I don't know how you guys were able to log in for signed reviews, I kept getting a 'login disabled' message. The second chapter was ready to upload when I put up the first, but I wanted to see how it was received.
Anon & Jillster: Thanks for your comments, I did make adjustments in later chapters. Unseen Watcher called it an empathy fic...excellent description of my intent.
Dave: Sorry about blowing off details on the air rifle/paint gun. I don't know much about them, I just know that you can load paint pellets into them.
On comments that the story was moving too fast. I only planned 5, maybe 6 chapters at the most. I don't think it's as well written as it could be but I needed to get this out of my head so I can get back to working on my tax returns and to my other story. I should have heeded my own advice: Don't grow up, it just messes up your priorities.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JKR, various publishers of the HP series. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Chapter 2 (uploaded 3/5/04)
After Snape had fallen asleep on Harry's chest, Aunt Petunia called the boy downstairs to clean the kitchen while the family entertained Aunt Marge in the sitting room. Snape woke up alone in the bedroom, in his shoebox, on top of the trunk. As he surveyed the room and tried to think of a plan, Marge's dog padded into the room and stuck his nose into the shoebox. Snape fluttered and squawked, tipping the shoebox and dumping himself onto the floor. He tried to run for cover under the bed, but all he could manage in his current form was a slow waddle. He hadn't yet gotten the hang of coordinating the swing of his tail feathers with his steps to increase his speed. Besides, he was dragging a heavily bandaged wing.
Harry was just passing the threshold of the kitchen door when he heard the squawking and barking from his room. He ran up the stairs, taking three at a time and rescued the raven from the jaws of the dog. Uncle Vernon had to pause at the top of the stairs to catch his breath. That gave Harry enough time to slide the bird under the bed as the dog ran out the door. "Shhh, quiet," he whispered.
"BOY, you know to keep your owl quiet! You are confined to your room until the morning. No supper!" Harry slid down the wall to sit on the floor in his disappointment. After the beefy purple-faced man stomped out of the room, Dudley came in to add injury to insult and kicked him in the gut. "Freak," Dudley spat out. The door slammed shut and a dozen clicks of door locks could be heard from the other side.
Harry panted on the floor clutching his stomach. Snape waddled over to the boy on the hard floor and attempted to preen the mess of black hair until Harry finally uncurled from his fetal position. "Ow, okay, I'm up. I'm up already." Harry rubbed his head, as Snape's first attempt at preening practically pulled his hairs out. "Thank you, anyway."
Harry sat up slowly and scooped up the black bird to cradle it against his chest. Snorting, he said to the bird, "I wish I could be a bird and fly away. I like flying. I'm a, um, well, I WAS the seeker for my house Quidditch team since my first year. I had never been on a broom before, you know, and this other kid, Malfoy, stole my roommate, Neville's, rememberall. He threw 50 feet to the ground to smash it, but I flew after it and saved it. My head of house witnessed my catch and my flying and she let me try out for the team captain. I miss my broom. It got taken away by a frog named Umbridge last year. I'd like to feed her to you and Hedwig. Maybe not, she might give you indigestion." Tired and weakening, the black bird, once again tucked its beak under its good wing.
Just after dark, Hedwig returned with a couple small pouches. She took a sip of water before gliding down to sit next to Harry on his bed. When she nuzzled her face into Harry's shirt, she was rewarded by getting her neck and back ruffled while he read Hagrid's instructions. In one pouch, Hagrid had sent a powdered formula and an eye dropper. In the other, Hagrid had sent along a rock cake. As hungry as he was, Harry was happy to have something to put in his stomach, but first he needed to attend to his patient.
"Hedwig, you haven't been properly introduced. I'm calling our new guest Professor Snape. Professor, this is Hedwig." Hedwig hooted softly. The raven, coo'd back. It went back and forth while Harry got off the bed to mix the formula with water.
"Hi there," Hedwig hooted. "I guess you didn't get my message about Dudley and his air gun.
"Hey, I can understand you. Can you understand me?" Snape coo'd.
"Of course, silly. You have an odd accent, though. You're not from around here, then."
"I was passing through when I was attacked by a hawk. I took refuge in the tree out front."
"I see. What is your real name, then? Harry is calling you after his potions professor as a joke on the professor."
"I know. Actually, I am Severus Snape. Thank the stars, he didn't call me after his godfather." Snape quickly explained how he came to become a raven, then added, "Would you do me favor?"
"Harry doesn't like you because you're mean to him."
"As a favor to Mr. Potter then."
"I'll think about it. What do you want?"
"Harry is left defenseless as his wand is locked up."
"You're telling me?! Do you think I'm flying around all night just for the exercise? No, sir! I'm keeping an eye out for anything strange. I'm taking care of my Harry."
Snape interrupted Hedwig's rant. "Excuse me? My favor?"
"Impatient sort, aren't you. Right. What is it, then?"
"I left my wand in the tree out front. Please bring it to Mr. Potter. I'd like him to have use of it for the mean time."
"Good on ya! Be right back." Hedwig hopped to the window sill and flew into the darkness. Harry assumed she was going out to hunt for food.
Harry scooped up the black bird and set it on his trunk. "Come on, now. You have to eat. Hagrid sent me an aviary formula that will help you get strong. Snape struggled against Harry's grip, surrendering quickly. Harry held the bird's head as gently as he could and shushed it. As Snape struggled, an eye dropper was shoved into his mouth, squeezing mush directly into his throat. Snape could do nothing but gulp and gag as he struggled to breathe.
"There we are," Harry said softly, "all down. You need to drink too, dehydration could be deadly for birds." Harry filled the eyedropper with water and held it for the raven to take at his own pace.
Hedwig hooted from her hover outside Harry's barred window with Snape's wand in her talons. Harry reached out and took the wand handle, allowing Hedwig to ride in on his hand. "Where'd you get this, girl?" Hedwig blinked at Harry. "The handle is engraved with 'S.S.' Hehehe, it couldn't be. Is this yours, Professor?" The black bird was still gagging and coughing, between sips from the dropper. It shook its head to clear its throat, but Harry took it as a 'no.'
"Well, we'll find the owner when we get back to the wizarding world. For now I'll consider it a loan. Thank you, Hedwig." The owl flew back out the window to do her rounds and to find something to eat.
Harry picked at Hagrid's rock cake. It didn't taste bad at all, but it was hard to bite off a decent sized piece, so he scraped off crumbs with his teeth. When it had sat long enough in his mouth, the cake reached a gummy consistency and he had to chew it for a long time before swallowing. Having had experience with Hagrid's cooking, he was actually grateful. He only needed to have a little cake sit in his stomach to feel full for a long time.
Hedwig returned with a frog leg in her beak and offered it to Snape. "No thank you," the raven coo'd, "I just had some avian mush shoved down my throat."
"Uh, that stuff makes me gag. But it does the job. You know, you should start preening when you've got nothing else to do. Your feathers are getting ratty and dull."
Snape blinked. "So what?"
"Okay, watch." Hedwig lifted a wing and, starting from the base of the feather ran her beak along one of the bigger ones. "See how I linked the little barbs together with my tongue? It spreads the oils down the feathers and makes you waterproof. By linking the little barbs, you can hold air under your wings better, that is, when you're flying again. Best prepare now. You always want to be ready to fly."
"So I've learned," Snape replied dryly, before attempting the new task. "Ouch, is this supposed to hurt?"
"No. Allow me to show you." Hedwig hooted to Snape. Chewing on his rock cake, Harry watched with interest while Hedwig hopped over to Snape and preened feathers on his back. They seemed to be communicating with each other.
"That feels good, Hedwig. Thank you."
"No problem, you just needed a little help being a bird. Harry's good about scratching the back of my head. It's about the only area I can't reach. But human fingers will never feel as good as a bird's beak."
Snape picked up the toasted crust of bread and put it in front of Hedwig. "Take it, please. I never would have believed how Potter lives if I hadn't witnessed it myself. All they gave him for lunch was one piece of toast, yet he saved a piece for me."
Hedwig nodded, "That's my Harry." She flew back up to her cage with her frog leg and crust to drop it into her food dish.
~ ~ ~
The hot afternoons found Harry cooling off in the flower bed under the living room window, listening to the television with Snape on his chest. Both Harry and Snape were drifting in and out of sleep until—SQUAWK! Snape, spread his wings and postured to scare away the cat that approached. The cat remained unfazed by the noise and wing span, and sat down next to Harry's head.
"Shhh, be quiet, Snape. Hello, Professor McGonagall. Checking up on me? I'm fine." Harry sat up. "Professor McGonagall, meet Professor Snape. Professor Snape, meet Professor McGonagall. It's not really Professor Snape, that's just what I'm calling him." Snape coo'd to McGonagall's meow.
"Minerva, can you understand me?" the black bird asked. The cat animagus licked its whiskers hungrily. "Damn, I guess I can only talk to birds."
Harry chuckled under his breath. "Please don't eat him, Professor. He was shot out of the air by my cousin. I'm just trying get him well. He's had remarkable improvement since yesterday. Thank Hagrid for me. At least you had the good sense to wait until Aunt Marge and her bulldog went home. Snape almost got eaten last night. He's a feisty fellow, though. He'd probably have turned the dog's stomach sour, so don't you try it."
The raven shook out its tail feathers. 'Yes, you tell her, Potter. Oh, how I wish I could get a message to Dumbledore.'
When she was satisfied with enough information, the cat sauntered away and disappeared under the hedge.
~ ~ ~
Later, Harry carried Snape to the little park down the street. He sat in a swing with Snape preening himself on the boy's lap. Harry pulled the latest copy of the Daily Prophet from his back pocket and read each article to Snape while inserting his own, whenever Minister Fudge or any one of the Death Eaters was mentioned.
"Hey, in the classified ads. SS, found your robes. Contact MF." Harry laughed, "SS seems to be losing a lot of his stuff. Maybe I should take out an ad about the wand."
The raven attempted a glare at the Gryffindor student, but not being at eye level, it went unnoticed, so Snape bit the closest finger to him, causing Harry to jump out of the swing. That got Snape dumped into the sand. "Ow, that was not nice, Snape. Sometimes you really behave like the wizard I named you after. I should make you walk back home." The bird squawked back, turned and started waddling away.
"Wait. Stop. Okay, I'm sorry, but you hurt me. I'm ready to go home and you're not ready to be on your own." Harry was on top of Snape within two strides and scooped him off the ground as several cats crawled out from the under the bushes. While Harry stroked from Snape's neck down to his chest with a finger, he said, "After all I've done for you, I'm just not ready to let you get eaten by the neighborhood cat. Did you see how fast they came out of hiding when you were on the ground?"
That night, Harry slept fitfully. Snape hopped out of his shoebox and made his way to Harry's pillow. Hedwig flew out of her cage and landed heavily on Harry's chest to wake him out of the nightmare he was having. Harry opened his eyes to see two pairs of birds eyes looking down at him, beaks practically on his face. "Sorry, guys, did I wake you?" Harry unconsciously rubbed the scar on his forehead.
"Voldemort is angry that he lost another Death Eater at the hands of one of their own. He must have been an important wizard to be so angry." Harry punched his pillow, causing Snape to jump up and flutter back down. "Sorry, Snape. I need to learn Occlumency to keep Voldemort out of my head but I don't get it. My professor tells me to clear my mind, but I can't just stop my mind from working. How do you just think of nothing? It sounds contradictory."
The raven coo'd and Hedwig hooted as if they were talking to Harry. "I wish I could understand you two. Snape, not you, my teacher thinks I'm weak because I act on my emotions. I'm a person, I've got feelings. Not like him, he's hard and cold like some kind of reptile in the dead of winter. He bullies me like my dad and my godfather used to bully him. But I'm not my dad, I don't deserve that. He thinks I'm spoiled and big headed because I'm famous. Do I live like I'm famous? I'd be really screwed up if I didn't always know deep in my heart how much my mum loved me. I've got her green eyes, you know. I'll bet I have her heart, too." With that out of his system, Harry yawned and laid his head back on the pillow, soothed by the soft cooing and hooting between the birds.
"Hedwig?" Snape coo'd.
"Yes?" Hedwig hooted back.
"I tried to talk to a cat animagus today."
"Harry's transfiguration teacher, then."
"Yes."
"I guess I sound like a typical bird to her. I think she wanted to eat me."
"Don't bother me with this."
"This is important."
"Not so far."
"Harry said you can talk to small animals. You warned them about his cousin."
"I am a magical creature. I can communicate directly with other birds and animals. You are a wizard, currently in the form of a bird. An ordinary bird because you're not an animagus. Ordinary creatures cannot communicate directly across species. Natural enemies or not, what they don't know by instinct, they learn to read and influence by behavior."
"Then shouldn't I have been able to understand what she said?"
"I've never talked to her in her cat form. I don't know how well she pays attention. Sorry."
To be continued...
~ ~ ~
Author's Notes: A big thank you to my reviewers: zol, relative1983, Anne, Lady S, Andromeda Snape-Malfoy, ShiTiger, WittchWay, yasha, KC, Mikee, Unseen Watcher, penny, Anora, Alynna Lis Eachann, spacecatdet, Breanna, M. C. R., chickens, Kateri1, ataraxis, Chrissie, lilith, samson, Sky, Gina , dave gerecke, athenakitty, JilLLsTeR, Emortis13, Luna Potter/Took, anon. A couple names hadn't shown up yet before I uploaded.
I've never had so many reviews after only one chapter. Perhaps I should also thank FFN for their problems, leaving my story near the top of the lists for so long and giving it lots of exposure time. I don't know how you guys were able to log in for signed reviews, I kept getting a 'login disabled' message. The second chapter was ready to upload when I put up the first, but I wanted to see how it was received.
Anon & Jillster: Thanks for your comments, I did make adjustments in later chapters. Unseen Watcher called it an empathy fic...excellent description of my intent.
Dave: Sorry about blowing off details on the air rifle/paint gun. I don't know much about them, I just know that you can load paint pellets into them.
On comments that the story was moving too fast. I only planned 5, maybe 6 chapters at the most. I don't think it's as well written as it could be but I needed to get this out of my head so I can get back to working on my tax returns and to my other story. I should have heeded my own advice: Don't grow up, it just messes up your priorities.