The three kept pretty much to the Common Room that day, doing homework. Nobody else knew about what had happened to Black – Harry supposed Dumbledore was going to wait to tell the school. When they went downstairs for dinner, they passed Madam Pomfrey talking to Professor Dumbledore.
"…can't get him to leave the ward, Headmaster! He needs to eat…can't you do something?" she was saying.
"I think, Poppy, that the best thing for him right now is to stay by her. I'm not going to force him to…"
Their voices died away as they turned the corner.
"Snape must still be in the hospital with Professor Black," Harry whispered as they sat down at the Gryffindor table.
"Didn't think he had it in him," Ron said around a mouthful of baked ham.
"I want to go check on her, but I hate to interrupt," said Harry. "Oh, I know! I'll take him some food. Madam Pomfrey said he hadn't eaten today. Ron, Hermione – put some of that ham in here." He held out a napkin.
Hermione looked at him, amazed. "Look at us! Putting a food packet together for Professor Snape! Who would have thought-!"
They had to admit that it was rather amusing. After they finished eating, Harry scooped up the bundle of food. "I'll go alone – the less he has to complain about, the better."
Harry walked quickly to the hospital ward. He paused outside the door, listening, but he heard no voices within. He slowly opened the door and looked in. Black was still asleep, stretched out on her stomach, one arm draped over the side of the bed. In a chair next to the bed was Snape, his head bent over, holding her hand.
Harry slipped inside the room. The door clicked shut behind him, but Snape did not move; Harry wondered if he was asleep. He approached the bed, and cleared his throat.
"Professor?" he said, hesitantly. Snape's head jerked up – Harry was right, he had been asleep.
"Potter?" He sounded confused.
"Um, Professor…I brought you some dinner." He held out the packet of food. "We heard Professor Dumbledore talking to Madam Pomfrey before supper, she said you hadn't eaten anything today. I thought you might be hungry, and I wanted to check on Professor Black. How is she?"
Snape stared at him as if he had grown three heads. "You brought me…dinner?" It appeared to be as much of a surprise to him as it had been to Harry.
Harry nodded, and Snape took the food from him, a little suspiciously. "Why did you do that, Potter?" he asked.
Harry shrugged. "I know you're worried about her; I am, too. It seemed like the right thing to do." He reddened slightly – it was rather embarrassing to be having such an intimate conversation with Snape.
"Well…thank you, Potter, it is most…kind…of you." He ate a few bites. "She hasn't woken up at all today, but she is resting comfortably. I appreciate your concern."
Harry wasn't sure what to say. "Well…er…let her know I asked about her when she does wake up – Ron and Hermione, too. We're the only ones who know, though. Professor Dumbledore hasn't told the school yet."
Snape nodded. "I will tell her; she is quite fond of you, so I am sure she will be pleased to hear of your consideration."
The next morning, Harry decided to check on Professor Black again. He wrapped a few pieces of toast in a napkin for Professor Snape (just in case) and once again started down the long hallway to the hospital wing. He wasn't paying particular attention to where he was going – his thoughts were turned to Hedwig and his letter to Sirius. He wondered vaguely if she had delivered the letter yet, and what Sirius's reaction had been. He smiled faintly. He almost wished he had been able to see the look on his godfather's face when he learned that his sister had fallen in love with his most bitter enemy.
And so it was, lost in thought, that Harry opened the door to the hospital ward and walked in. His brain didn't even register what he was seeing until he was just a few feet away from the bed where Professor Black lay.
He stopped and stared. Professor Snape had pushed another bed over next to Black's, and was fast asleep on it. As for Black, she had rolled half-way onto Snape's bed, and her head was resting against his shoulder. Harry smiled; they looked so cute together (Snape? Cute?! Harry thought).
He didn't see any reason for him to linger, but before he could turn to leave, Black opened her eyes and looked at him. She smiled, and propped herself up on one elbow so she could see him better. He flushed; it was embarrassing to be standing there looking at the two of them next to each other.
She glanced down at Snape, who was still fast asleep, then back up at Harry. "Good morning, Harry," she whispered. "How are you?"
"I…er…well….uh…I'm fine, Professor," he stammered. "I just…uh…came to check on you and…er…well…" He held up the napkin in his hand sheepishly. "I brought some toast."
She nodded at the bedside table. "You can set it down there, Harry, and thanks." She looked at Snape again to ensure he was still asleep. "Did you send the owl?"
Harry nodded. "No answer yet."
She smiled again, started to say something, then looked down as Snape stirred in his sleep. "You'd better go, Harry. I doubt Severus would be too pleased if he knew you had seen him like this." She nodded down at his sleeping form and grinned.
Harry, eyes wide, just nodded and hurried quickly out of the ward.
The day passed slowly and when, by mid-afternoon, Hedwig had still not returned, Harry said that he wanted to go see Professor Black again.
"Snape should be up and around by now," he said. So the three of them set off and were soon at the hospital with a selection of chocolate frogs and Bertie Botts Every-Flavor Beans as a get-well-soon gift.
When Harry opened the door, they found that Professor Dumbledore was there, seated in a chair next to the two beds that were still pushed together. Both Snape and Black were sitting propped up in the bed. All three turned when the door opened, and Professor Black waved at them.
"Nice to see you three!" she said cheerily, sounding much like her old self.
When they drew near, they saw a rectangular wooden block with a pattern of holes on it sitting on the bed, around which were scattered playing cards. Both Harry and Hermione recognized it immediately.
"Cribbage!" they both said. "I didn't know you played cribbage, Professor," Hermione said.
She smiled. "One of my favorite games." She turned to Snape. "Really, Severus…why don't you go for a while? Have a shower and get some dinner. Even if Professor Dumbeldore needs to leave, Harry, Ron, and Hermione can keep me company."
"Oh, go on, Severus," added Dumbledore when he hesitated. "Rebekah will be fine here with me and these three young people."
Snape sighed, nodded and climbed down from the bed. "Don't wear yourself out, Rebekah," he said and she laughed. He hesitated momentarily, then, impulsively, bent down and kissed her cheek, much to the children's embarrassment. "I will see you later."
Once he had gone, Harry, Ron, and Hermione gave Black her presents (she gleefully opened a chocolate frog and popped it in her mouth) and pulled chairs around the bed. They chatted for a bit while she dealt a cribbage hand for herself and Hermione, and Harry helped Ron try to understand the rules of the game.
His obvious frustration with a game that didn't move or explode amused Black greatly. "You're as bad as Severus," she said. "He kept expecting his peg to move itself."
Even Dumbledore laughed at that. "Well, now," he said, "have you told Sirius about what's happened yet?"
Both Harry and Black nodded. "I wrote to him that same morning," Harry said, "but I haven't heard-"
Harry never got to finish his sentence, and it turned out that he didn't need to anyway, because at that very moment, the door at the far end of the room burst open and a huge shaggy black dog came hurtling in, followed more slowly by Remus Lupin.
"Ah," said Dumbledore, smiling, "you're late."
The dog hurled itself onto the bed, knocking the cribbage board off and scattering cards in every direction. Lupin, still at the far end of the room, had pushed the door shut and tapped it with his wand, locking it tightly.
The instant the door was locked, the dog disappeared and there was Sirius, sitting on the bed with his sister.
"Rebekah!" he said, and flung his arms around her. He pulled back and looked at her closely. "Oh, my God! Are you OK? I got a letter - what happened?"
She hugged him back. "I'm fine, Sirius," she said, "really I am. It'll take more than one nighttime freak attack to keep me down."
Lupin pulled another chair up beside the bed and, before sitting down, shook Dumbledore's hand. "So," he said, "what have you found out, Headmaster?"
Dumbledore shook his head. "Nothing yet, I'm afraid," he said, sighing, "and not for want of trying."
Sirius looked over at Harry, then back at Rebekah. "Harry told me you said the perpetrator looked like him."
She nodded. "He did – looked just like Harry. Only, no glasses."
Everyone exchanged knowing glances. "Polyjuice Potion." Sirius finally said. "But how?"
"Yeah, how?" asked Harry. "They'd need some of my….Oh, my God! Malfoy!"
Everyone turned to look at him. He smacked his forehead with the heel of his hand. "Malfoy attacked me at breakfast the day before Professor Black was attacked. He ripped out a fistful of my hair! That's how they did it! Why didn't I see that before?"
Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "It does seem possible for the two events to be connected. However, Polyjuice Potion is a very complex potion to make, and the Cruciatus Curse is not easy spell to cast."
Hermione piped up. "Well, Malfoy would know how to make Polyjuice Potion – we did it in the fall with Professor Snape."
"That's right," Ron agreed. "We did."
"That still leaves the Cruciatus Curse," said Lupin. "Could he have done that?"
Professor Black shook her head. "No, not Draco. He can cast quite a few hexes, but he's nowhere near powerful enough to use that one with the force it was cast with." She shook her head again. "No, it was a fully qualified wizard that attacked me."
Dumbledore sighed. "Well, until we figure out who it is, we have to assume that they will try again. I hate to say this…but I'd like you to have a faculty member with you at all times. For your own protection. And everyone else's. If we can't stop this, students from Muggle families may be at risk."
Black gave him a wan smile. "I don't foresee any problems with having my own bodyguard, Headmaster." She winked at Harry.
Sirius's expression went from thoughtfully worried to suspiciously annoyed. "Speaking of which, Rebekah…there is one other thing I'd like to discuss with you…."
She obviously knew exactly where the conversation was headed, for she blushed crimson and ducked her head. Lupin and Dumbledore sat there with amused looks on their faces, watching.
"Sirius, I…" she started, but he interrupted.
"Severus?" he said, sounding amazed. "Rebekah, you're in love with SNAPE?!?"
"Well," she said, grinning sheepishly, "it's not like I put it on my agenda or anything!"
Dumbledore interrupted them. "I think that perhaps I shall wait outside in the hall for a few minutes. Harry, Ron, Hermione…if you'll accompany me?"
"Harry stays, Professor," said Sirius. "I'm going to have a couple of words for him being so secretive." But he was smiling when he said it.
Dumbledore, Ron, and Hermione slipped out the door, and Harry heard the lock click from the outside. He looked over at Lupin and grinned nervously.
"Rebekah…I can't believe you didn't tell me?" Sirius said. "And Snape, of all people! You didn't pick him because I was teasing you about not being married, did you?!?"
She blushed again and put her face in her hands. She looked for all the world like a little girl caught kissing a boy on the playground.
"Oh, Sirius…no…it's not like that at all." She finally said.
His expression softened. "Rebekah, is he…is he good to you?"
She gave him a tender, pitiful look. "Of course he is, Sirius. I wouldn't be with him if he wasn't."
Sirius looked abashed. "I…I didn't mean to imply…"
"Oh, nevermind, Big Bro," she said, grinning.
But Sirius rounded on Harry. "And why didn't you tell me?" he demanded.
Harry looked at him, pretending to be affronted. "I did tell you! Only not for a long time…."
Professor Black laughed. "I told him specifically not to tell you, Sirius," she said. "Only the news was too much for him to hold in, and he told Remus just after Christmas."
Lupin gave Sirius a timid grin and wave. Sirius just laughed.
"So, I was the only one in the dark, eh?"
"Not really," said Professor Black. "Severus doesn't know that you're my brother."
Sirius looked astonished. "You haven't told him yet?"
She shrugged. "I'm waiting to see if he can figure it out on his own. If not, I'll tell him. But not yet."
The door to the ward opened, cutting off their conversation. It was Dumbledore with Ron and Hermione.
"He's coming back!" hissed Hermione.
"Who?" asked Sirius.
"Severus." Said Professor Black. "I suggest you do your thing, Sirius." He responded by immediately turning back into a dog.
Harry and Ron quickly gathered up the fallen cards and righted the cribbage board while Sirius, as Snuffles, made himself comfortable next to Black and laid his head across her lap. Everyone else scrambled for their seats so when the door opened again and Snape entered, the assembled group all looked calm and innocent, as if he had interrupted no more than a cribbage game. Harry got the impression that he had taken just enough time to wolf down some food before returning.
Snape frowned when he saw Lupin and the dog. "Good afternoon, Lupin," he said. "I did not expect to see you here when I returned."
Lupin smiled mildly. "Just stopped in to check on Rebekah, see how she is doing. I was quite worried about her, after hearing of the attacks."
"I see," he replied, slowly, his eyes flitting back and forth between Lupin, the dog, and Professor Black.
"Oh, for pity's sake, Severus," Black said impatiently, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and nearly knocking poor Snuffles off, "come here." She grabbed his arm and hauled him off to Madam Pomfrey's office, which was blessedly empty, and shut the door. They heard her speaking rapidly in low tones, a few interjections from Snape that were quickly hushed, and then, silence.
After a few minutes, the door opened back up and the two emerged. Black was laughing, her arm looped through Snape's. Snuffles raised his hackles but was shushed by Lupin.
"Severus, it's all right, I've told you before," she was saying, "my family knew the Lupins, I grew up knowing Remus, he's a friend, relax." She smiled up at him. "You should be pleased that I have many friends who are concerned about me." They had reached the bed and the bent down to scratch Snuffles behind the ears. "It takes some of the load off you."
Snape scowled. "That may or may not be a good thing, Rebekah."
She sat down on the bed and laughed, shaking her head. "You are too much. You've almost the entire past two days with me…don't you have anything else that you needed to do? Now is your opportunity to grade papers or dream up some bizarre potion for your class tomorrow, and you worry about me spending a little time by myself."
"I'm not the one who was attacked within the school walls, Rebekah," he reminded her.
She rolled her eyes. "And if whoever did it's going to be so bold as to try again with Dumbledore and Remus sitting here…well…how shall I put this? It wouldn't matter if you were here or elsewhere, they'd still try."
He couldn't seem to think of a logical argument for that, and just stood there, frowning worriedly.
She grinned. "Stay if you want, Severus, I can't force you to do anything; but Remus is staying, too, at least for a while" – she threw a questioning glance over in his direction, and he nodded. She picked up a handful of the playing cards that were still on the bed. "Stick around and you can see how a real game of Cribbage is played – Miss Granger and I were just getting started."
Black managed to convince him to stay, but he refused to sit on the bed with her, since Snuffles was still there, and instead contented himself with watching the game's progress from a chair opposite the rest of them. Professor Black kept getting distracted with Snuffles, who looked for all the world like he wanted to either bite Snape or hop off the bed and pee on his robes, so she ended up losing the first game to Hermione, but came roaring back in a second game with Harry and crushed him.
Snape seemed to finally get the hang of it, and agreed to play her in a third game, but he kept magicking his little peg around instead of moving it by hand, which irritated Black somewhat. "You're not supposed to use magic!" she shrieked about four times before giving up and lapsing into silence.
Dinner hour was fast approaching, and Dumbledore invited Remus to eat with them in the Great Hall. Professor Black insisted that she wanted to leave the hospital and after much pleading and arguing with Snape, she finally agreed to let Madam Pomfrey make the final decision, though Harry could tell by her expression that she had a good idea of what the answer would be.
Surprisingly, Madam Pomfrey was unable to find any compelling reason for her to stay, and she smiled smugly as she walked, arm in arm, with Professor Snape who clearly would have preferred to eat anywhere except with Lupin and Snuffles. The Gryffindor students were all thrilled to see Professor Lupin again, and begged for him to eat with them at their table instead of with the teachers. He agreed, with Dumbledore's unspoken consent.
The rest of the school watched as Snape and Black, still arm in arm, made their way up to the teachers' tables and sat down, talking quietly. McGonagall caught Black's eye and gave her a knowing smile; Black winked at her.
Dumbledore made the announcement that night about the attack on Professor Black. Most of the students were shocked, but Harry noticed that a few of the Slytherins – Malfoy included – were smirking and laughing quietly. Dumbledore urged anyone with information to please come forward.
"I will not tolerate attacks of any kind in this school, wizard or Muggle, student or teacher – NONE whatsoever. Until the person who did this is caught, we have to assume there will be further attempts, and it is possible that students may be targeted next."
Lupin chatted pleasantly with the Gryffindor students throughout dinner, but, to everyone's disappointment, he said that he would be leaving afterwards. "I only stopped by to check on Professor Black," he said. But he held Harry back a moment and lowered his voice. "Harry, I want you to keep me – us – posted about everything that happens here. If there are any more attacks, anything at all, I want you to send an owl immediately. I think Snuffles may return to his mountain hideout within the next few weeks – he wants to be nearby in case anything else happens. OK?"
Harry grinned and nodded. "Will do, Professor…er, Remus."
Lupin smiled and shook his, Ron's, and Hermione's hands, then turned and left with Snuffles at his side.
Spring at Hogwarts that year was sunny but cool, and the return of a state of normalcy (or, at least, relative normalcy, as this was Hogwarts) encouraged Harry to relax and enjoy life. Professor Black was still staying with Professor Snape in his own private quarters, as a couple weeks after the nighttime attack on her, someone broke into her office (again) and her quarters and left threatening messages scrawled across the walls.
The whole school, by that point, knew exactly what was going on between her and Snape, not that either of them cared anymore, but it did make for some interesting conversations around the Common Room fire at night.
Harry, true to his word, had written to Lupin and Sirius the day after Black's office had been ransacked again, and had received word back that Sirius was once again in the mountainside cave hiding out with Buckbeak.
One day, midway through April, Harry, Ron, and Hermione knocked on Professor Black's office door with a question about an essay she had assigned (Compare and contrast the following: wyrvens and dragons, merpeople and humans, Dementors and Lethifolds, doxies and fairies, and hippocampuses and hippogriffs). Her voice sounded strangely muffled when she called out, "Come in!"
They opened her office door, half expecting to find her with Snape, but it turned out that she was alone in her office, crawling around on the floor, the upper half of her body hidden inside the cabinets on one side of the room. She backed out to see who had come in, and when she saw Harry, she smiled.
"Hi, there," she said. "What brings you three out here?"
"We have a question about the essay, Professor," Harry said. "But…er…what are you doing?"
She held up a small wooden platform with a small metal bar across it. "Setting mousetraps."
Ron looked puzzled. "What's a mousetrap?"
"A trap for mice. Honestly, Ron," said Hermione. "What did you think it was?"
"Why do you need to trap mice?" asked Ron, who had turned pink at Hermione's words.
Hermione rolled her eyes, and Black laughed. "Because they're in my office making a mess of things, that's why." She pushed the trap she had held up back into a corner of the cupboard and stood up, dusting off her robes. "Bothersome little critters. Running around, pooping on the floor, nibbling holes in my books and spare robes. I hate killing anything, if I can help it, so I tried some of these nifty little humane traps – the kind Muggles use, not magic ones, that catch the animal but don't hurt it – but these little buggers are smart; the bait was gone, the traps were sprung, but no mouse."
She sighed and laughed. "Severus…Professor Snape…came in one day and found me saying a few choice words to one of the empty traps…he found it quite amusing. Gave me some magic ones that he said were sure to work. Of course, they didn't. So now it's time to play nasty. These traps are the real deal – non-magic but deadly. I baited them with cheese and peanut butter; irresistible. Let's see those little beasts get away this time!"
A few weeks later, Professor Black was passing some graded homework back to the class; Harry noticed that his paper, as well as a few others, had some strange holes in them.
"Professor?" he said, raising his hand, "what's with the holes in this paper?"
She gave him a wry smile. "It's those darn mice. Actually, it's more than just mice, there are rats, too. Cornered a rat in my office yesterday morning, but it slipped away; big old ugly thing." She grimaced. "I don't usually mind them, but this one was exceptionally ugly, for a rat." The class laughed.
"You mean the traps haven't worked?" asked Hermione.
"No," Black replied, "they haven't worked one bit, which is rather surprising…not to mention annoying."
"You should borrow Crookshanks," said Ron, "he'll clear those mice out in a flash!"
Harry snorted behind his paper, but Black looked interested. "Ron, you might just have hit on the answer I needed. Let me try one more thing, and if that doesn't work, Hermione, if I could borrow your cat for a week, he just might do the trick."
None of them were really surprised when, two weeks later, Black held Hermione back after class and asked if she could borrow Crookshanks. "I'm about fed up with these rodents," she said, frowning. "They chewed through my copy of Jabberwocky the other night."
"Jabberwocky?" said Ron, puzzled.
Harry and Hermione both laughed. "It's a poem," Hermione said, "by a Muggle, and it's very good."
Black smiled brightly. "Right you are! It is quite good, and now my only copy is destroyed." She frowned again. "Rotten little turds."
But Ron was far more interested in prose than pesky rodents. "How does Jabberwocky go, Professor?" he asked.
She grinned, and flung an arm up in the air. "Come!" she said majestically. "I will regale you with this wonderful tale, whilst we venture forth, our empty bellies to fill!" They all laughed heartily as they left the classroom.
And so the foursome trooped down to the Great Hall with Professor Black recounting the famous poem:
`Twas brillig, and the slithy
toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in
hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he
stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One,
two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And,
has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
Ron practically doubled over with laughter by the time Black finished her recitation. "Slithy? Bandersnatch? Frabjous?! Are those REAL words?"
"Of course not, silly," she said, "they're all nonsense, they don't mean anything."
She bid them farewell at the doors to the hall. "I've got to stop by my office – bring Crookshanks down tonight after dinner, will you, Hermione?"
Later that evening, with Ron still repeating snippets from the poem and giggling, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, with Crookshanks in her arms, walked down to Professor Black's office. They knocked on her door.
"Come in!"
They went in and found her standing in the middle of her office, holding a ragged book up between her thumb and forefinger, glowering at it. Snape was there, as well, picking up little shreds of paper off the floor. She looked up as they entered, and gave them a sardonic smile.
"They're at it again," she said, holding up the book so they could see. "Chewed up my copy of The Fellowship of the Ring. This is more annoying than people breaking into my office."
Crookshanks squirmed out of Hermione's arms and scuttled around the office, poking his flat face into corners and behind furniture. "Well," Hermione said, "hopefully Crookshanks will solve your mouse problem, Professor."
She smiled. "Yes, it would be nice to stop losing my possessions."
"You could bring some of them up to my office, Rebekah," suggested Snape, his hands full of crumbled paper. But Black flung her arms out and spun around in the office.
"That's an awful lot of work! I've got TONS of books and things here!" She looked like she did not relish the prospect of either losing her possessions or dragging them all over the castle.
Snape shrugged. "It wouldn't take long to move them, really," he said.
She shook her head. "Moving them isn't the problem; finding places to put them is. Do you really want your office and dungeon filled with stacks of books, papers, pictures, and what-nots?" She laughed. "I think this kitty will do the trick – no matter how smart a rat is, they're not smart enough to escape a determined cat."
The deadline for the fifth year students to take their O.W.L.s was fast approaching, and Hermione had written up a studying schedule for herself, Harry, and Ron. Fortunately, all the work they had done the previous year helping Harry prepare for the Triwizard Tournament gave the three of them a head-start, and a nice advantage over the rest of their classmates.
Harry spent some time trying to teach them the Patronus Charm that Remus Lupin had taught him two years earlier, but only Hermione was able to produce anything at all, even if it was just a few wisps of silver.
Between cramming for their Ordinary Wizarding Levels and working feverishly for their end-of-term exams, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had forgotten all about loaning Crookshanks to Professor Black. One day, after Defense Against the Dark Arts, Hermione asked about him.
Black sighed and sat down heavily on her desk. "It's not working," she said, shaking her head. "He did catch a few mice, but I've lost a set of new dress robes, about a dozen books, and a whole pile of homework papers since you brought Crookshanks; I just don't understand it."
She smiled wearily. "I finally took Severus's advice and moved some of my stuff into his office and his quarters. You should see it now – boxes piled up everywhere."
"Are you still staying with him, Professor?" Harry asked.
She frowned. "Yes, and don't get me wrong – his heart's in the right place. But it's driving me crazy. He won't let me sleep on the couch – makes me take his bed while he sleeps on the couch. Won't let me walk about in the morning or evening by myself." She shook her head. "There haven't been any attacks in a while – but he won't let his guard down, not one little bit. Guess he's afraid I'll forget how to take care of myself."
"So, what are you going to do, Professor?" asked Hermione. "About next year – I mean, if you can't get rid of the mice?"
"I'm not sure, Hermione," she answered. "I just know that it's really annoying to not be able to use my own office – things keep getting destroyed."
Just then, Snape appeared in the doorway, presumably to escort Professor Black to dinner.
"Well, you can probably take Crookshanks back in the next day or so, Hermione; I might just end up moving into Severus's office permanently." She grinned up at the man in the doorway, who did not say anything but merely raised an eyebrow.
Hermione giggled softly and leaned over to Harry. "He looks like Mr. Spock when he does that." Harry snorted, but Ron just looked confused.
"Mr. Spock?"
Black must have heard them, because she looked at them, perplexed, then over to Snape. Suddenly, she burst out laughing. "Spock! Ha ha!!" She whooped with glee, then shook her head at Snape's and Ron's puzzled expressions.
"Nevermind, Muggle science fiction would take far too long to explain," she said. "Hermione, stop by tomorrow for Crookshanks. Oh, and good luck, you three, on your O.W.L.s."
Conversation at dinner turned to the end of term exams and O.W.L.s, which were only about two weeks away. Hermione wanted to increase their study time; Harry had no idea how they were going to squeeze it all in.
Suddenly, Harry wanted a brief reprieve from all the books, all the work, all the stress and headaches. "Let's go see Hagrid after we get done eating," he said.
"I don't know, Harry," said Hermione. "We really need to study. And we probably shouldn't be out so late."
But Harry shook his head. "You can study if you want, but I'm going to see Hagrid; I need a break. And we'll take the invisibility cloak, just in case Filch is wandering around."
As soon as they finished eating, they hurried back up to the Common Room, where Harry stuffed his cloak into the robes, and the three headed down to Hagrid's hut on the school grounds. A knock on the door produced Fang's deafening bark followed by heavy, clunking footsteps across the floor. The door opened wide and the bushy-bearded face of Hagrid peered out at them.
"'Bout time!" he roared. "Ye haven't been ter see me in ages!" He sat them all down around his kitchen table and served them some tea and rock cakes. Finally, he settled back in his chair and looked at them.
"About ready to take yer O.W.L.s, then? All studied up?"
They nodded, and told him about all the work they had done researching hexes and curse deflection the prior year, and Hagrid looked quite pleased at the effort they had gone to.
"Maybe yeh should go up ter Professor Black's office an' blast those idiot mice outter the castle," he said.
"You know about her problem?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, I know about it," Hagrid said, gloomily. "They're givin' her a fair time, I'll tell yeh that. An' another thing – can't seem ter get rid of 'em. She came to me awhile back askin' fer help; I gave her some stuff ter try…di'n't even phase 'em. She's gonna move her stuff outta there over the summer an' let me get in there and try to put it righ'."
They chatted until darkness fell over the grounds, and Hagrid jumped up. "Yeh best be gettin' back up ter the castle," he said seriously. "Don' want ter see yer get inter trouble or anythin'."
They thanked him for the tea and cakes (though, of course, none of them had actually eaten the rock cakes – they had slipped them to Fang who also refused them) and then Hagrid let them out the back door. Harry wrapped the cloak around them and they started slowly walking back up to the school.
After a quick check to ensure the entrance hall was empty, they slipped through the door and started the long trip back to the Gryffindor Tower. They were about halfway there, when they heard something moving in the corridor ahead of them. The castle was dark enough to make it difficult to see, and they waited, holding their breath. The movement stopped; they heard a hiss and saw the gleam of two yellow eyes peering at them.
"It's Crookshanks!" Hermione whispered in amazement. "What's he doing out here? I thought he was in Professor Black's office!"
Harry had a sudden thought. "Maybe someone broke into her office again and Crookshanks got out the door?"
"I don't know. Crookshanks, come here!" Hermione hissed, but the cat just stared at her and switched its bottlebrush tail back and forth.
"Oh, he's probably on the trail of one of those mice," said Ron, "come on, let's get a move on before someone comes along." But as they started to move forward, Crookshanks hissed again; they stopped.
"What's he playing at?" Harry said.
"Crazy cat," said Ron, "just ignore him; let's keep moving." They started forward again, but before they had gone more than half a dozen paces, they slammed into something solid, which sent all three of them staggering back, stunned.
"What was that?" squeaked Ron. "What did we hit?"
Suddenly, to their amazement, they felt the invisibility cloak being pulled off of them. It fell to the ground in front of them as they stared in disbelief at what appeared to be an empty corridor. Harry heart stopped.
"Another invisibility cloak," he whispered, but before he could say or do anything else, he saw a wand appear and words came out of the air in front of them.
"Stupefy!" All three crumpled to the ground.
The next thing that Harry was aware of was that his head hurt. He opened his eyes, and looked up at the stars twinkling in the dark sky above; he was outside. Rubbing his head gingerly, he sat up and looked around. He was near the Forbidden Forest, quite a ways from the castle; the only sound he heard was the wind sighing through the trees. He saw nobody else; Ron and Hermione were not with him.
He tried to stand up, but something pushed him back down – something in front of him that he could not see. From the very air around him came a soft chuckle.
"Fancy meeting you here, Potter," the voice said. "I must admit, I did not expect to run into you in the hallway – I expected the corridors to be deserted, but, then again, one would assume that you thought the same thing."
"Who are you?" asked Harry.
The voice laughed again. "Oh, I don't think it really matters, Potter, who I am. What matters is…what I'm going to do."
Harry heard a swishing sound, and saw footsteps appear in the grass. The person in the cloak was pacing back and forth in front of him. The voice spoke again. "My original intent on this night was to simply break into Black's office and do some more damage. I must confess, I am very disappointed in Severus Snape; I expected higher standards from him, not following that filthy Mudblood around like a starved puppy. Instead, he protects her, shelters her, making my task that much more difficult." The voice paused, then chuckled again softly.
"Imagine my surprise, when I ran right into you in the hallway. At first, I was frightened that I might be discovered, then I remembered just who at Hogwarts has an invisibility cloak. It took only seconds for me to revise my original strategy; instead of some petty vandalism, I decided to kidnap you."
Harry was frightened, but he was determined not to show it. "Why?" he demanded.
"Why?" said the voice. "Why, to kill you, of course! Through your own amazing luck you have managed to elude the Dark Lord; his faithful" – he spat out the word – "servant last year didn't even managed to kill you. But I…I will manage it, Potter, because nobody will ever know what happened to you. By the time your two pathetic friends are discovered, you – and I – will be long gone."
Harry thought he could make out where the person was standing, but there was not enough moonlight for him to be certain. He made a quick assessment of the situation and decided to fight; he reached for his wand, but before he got his fingers around it, the voice spoke again.
"Crucio!"
The Cruciatus Curse was as terrible as Harry remembered it from before. He writhed on the ground, screaming – and then it was over, as quickly as it had come.
The voice was laughing again, a cold, cruel laugh. "Cat and mouse, Mr. Potter, cat and mouse – I'm playing with you before I kill you."
Harry's whole body ached from the effects of the Cruciatus Curse. He struggled to his knees and stayed there for a moment, panting. Movement on the ground about ten feet in front of him caught his attention, and his jaw dropped in disbelief when he saw what was skittering towards him.
"Wormtail!" he snarled, and the rat stopped short. It was fortunate that his attention was focused on the rat because, at that very moment, the hem of the invisibility cloak that Harry's attacker was wearing brushed over Wormtail, and he vanished from sight momentarily. A second later, he was visible again.
Roaring with anger, Harry flung himself forward, aiming for a spot just above the rat and felt his shoulder connect with what he assumed were somebody's knees. With a painful grunt, the invisible man toppled over onto the grass; Harry was on top of him in an instant and ripped the cloak off.
Harry stared in amazement as he looked down at himself.
"Nice moves, Potter," Harry's double said, "but it won't save you much longer."
But before either of them could do another thing, shouts rang out behind them; Harry turned and saw Snape running toward him with Ron and Hermione bringing up the rear.
The double-Harry jumped up and stood next to Harry as Snape skidded to a halt. Hermione collided with him, and Ron tripped trying to stop in time.
For a moment, nobody moved. Then, Snape spoke. "Which one of you is the real Harry Potter?"
"I am!" Harry was dismayed (but not at all surprised) to hear that they other one said the same thing at the same time.
He turned on the imposter in anger. "What do you mean, you are? You used Polyjuice Potion so you would look like me in case you got caught! You attacked Professor Black, Ron, Hermione, and me, and you put the Cruciatus Curse on me!"
"What?" Harry shrieked. "You put the curse on me! You said you were going to kill me!"
"I did not!" Harry bellowed. "You did! You're the imposter!"
"I am not! You are!" Harry screamed. "You've got to believe him, Professor! I'm Harry, he's not! He's going to kill me!"
Snape,
Ron, and Hermione looked at each other then back at the two Harrys that were
standing there, looking quite identical.
Snape scowled. "I see the
imposter has improved his game – they are both wearing glasses."
"How are we going to tell them apart?" said Hermione.
But before she could get an answer, the silence was broken by an ear-splitting roar and the sound of something heavy galloping towards them; then, from out of the trees came an enormous black shaggy figure on all fours, heading straight for them. It slammed into both Harrys and sent them sprawling.
"SIRIUS!" Harry cried – and to his amazement, the other Harry had said the same thing!
"How do YOU know that's Sirius!" he hollered.
"How do YOU?!?" his double countered with just as much fury and anger.
The black dog had backed off, confused, when it realized what it was faced with, but kept its gaze fixed on both Harry and Harry. Its hackles were raised and it was growling, but it did not move.
Snape seemed somewhat surprised at the sudden arrival of Sirius. But Hermione stepped out from behind him to approach the dog. "Sirius?" she whispered. "We can't tell them apart!"
Suddenly the moonlight from above was blotted out as a huge winged creature flew out from over the trees, shrieking and blasting fire everywhere.
Both Harrys screamed and Snape's jaw hit the ground; Ron fainted dead away. Only Hermione and Sirius looked calm. The creature landed hard on the ground between the two Harrys and Snape, Ron, Hermione, and Sirius. Both Harrys were too petrified to move; they just stood there, staring at the rather small dragon that was staring back at them.
Nobody moved. The dragon – was it a dragon, Harry thought? It's awful small – lowered its head until it was level with Harry's. It's piercing stare held him riveted. It sniffed him up and down, rather like a dog, then turned to the Harry next to him and did the same.
It sniffed the first Harry again, then went back to the second Harry. It continued to stare at the second Harry and then, very slowly, its mouth opened up into what Harry could have sworn was an evil smile. A small hiss escaped between its teeth. Harry stood terrified, another Harry at his side.
In a flash, the dragon sprung to life, its jaws snapping, ripping at the Harry's cloak. Harry jumped back as Harry was knocked down by the rampaging lizard.
The real Harry's eyes fell on Wormtail, still in rat form, running frantically toward the forest. "Sirius!" he cried. "Wormtail! There he goes! Get him!!!" The dog didn't need any encouragement; he dashed off after the fleeing rat as the dragon flung the other Harry aside, stunned.
Ron had revived and was staring at the confrontation with eyes like saucers. "Ron!" Harry was running toward him, but Ron held out his wand.
"NO! Not until I know you're the real Harry. Don't come any closer." Ron said, his voice shaking. Harry stopped dead.
The other Harry lay in a heap at the feet of the dragon, which was bending over him, snarling. "Ron!" he screamed. "Don't let it kill me! Please! That's the imposter!"
Hermione pulled Ron back from the Harry standing in front of him, dragged him over to where Snape stood, unmoving. Just then, thundering footsteps announced Sirius's return – and clamped tightly in his jaws was a terrified rat.
"Scabbers!!!!" Ron roared, rushing forward before Hermione could stop him; he snatched the rat from the dog's mouth and held on tightly. Snape looked between Ron and the rat and Harry and the dragon, bewildered.
"What on earth-?" he started, but Hermione interrupted him.
"Professor Snape, that rat is Peter Pettigrew," she said. Snape's jaw hit the ground again.
"Keep a tight hold on him, Ron," said Hermione.
A roar from the dragon turned their attention back to it. It looked like it was ready to kill Harry, lying on the ground just inches from its jaws.
Harry was screaming, "NO! Don't let it kill me! Please! Hermione! Ron! SAVE ME!!!"
Snape still wasn't too sure which Harry was which, and he still hadn't quite figured out why the wyrven – for that is indeed what it was – was behaving in such an unusual manner. He raised his wand. "Granger, Weasley, Stunning spells, on the wyrven, on the count of three-"
The wyrven screeched and spread its wings just as Hermione flung herself at him, knocking his wand arm aside, and screamed, "NO! Professor Snape, that's Professor Black!!!" Both his and Ron's and both Harry's jaws dropped.
The issue of which Harry was which was immediately decided when the Harry on the ground in front of the wyrven apparently decided that he was running out of options; before anybody realized it, he had raised his wand, aimed it at Snape, and shouted, "Crucio!"
Snape didn't have a chance to react – his attention had been on the wyrven – but Hermione, who was paying considerably more attention to the person on the ground, had seen the movement and without stopping to think, shoved Snape aside as hard as she could. The Cruciatus Curse hit her full on, and she slammed into the ground, screaming in agony. Ron, who had stunned Wormtail and tucked him safely away in his robes, was at her side in an instant, putting his body between hers and the deadly struggle behind him, shielding her from further attack.
The dog rounded on her attacker, who had now pointed the wand up at the wyrven. Sirius rammed him as hard as he could, and the winged lizard roared as it rose up slightly in the air, beating its leathery wings. Now Snape was certain which was the real Harry, and he wasted no time in raising his wand and crying "Stupefy!" at the figure on the ground. He collapsed on the spot and did not move.
