Chapter 11

Severus awoke with a start in the next morning. He had dreamed something, but it had vanished as quickly as he felt his blankets being swept away. He groaned at the sudden coldness, and looked up reluctantly. The nurse - Poppy, at least he remembered that - was twittering around him, checking various things above his head and examining his bandaged arm while she chatted all the time in that foreign language. He was still too tired to listen to something he didn't understand, so he closed his eyes again. This seemed to annoy the nurse. He heard her saying something else, and after a few moments he recognised the word as a name - his supposed-to-be name. He opened his eyes again only to be blinded by a small light held very close to him. The nurse chuckled at his grimace and continued talking about something. Severus tried to hear some structure out of the constant stream of sounds. After several minutes he got the general idea that this "juu" had to be a kind of address, she used it every time she turned towards him. He tried to recognise some words; sounds; anything that was familiar, but he couldn't make out a single resemblance. Severus was very frustrated when the nurse finished her examination and opened the door for his first visitor. Herm... the girl, as he had hoped secretly! He sat up quickly when she hesitantly stepped closer.

"Good morning, Professor Snape."

Well, that seemed to be a greeting. At least he had understood his name again, he thought grimly. He decided to break the ice a bit by handling the situation with humour.

"Huomenta. Mitä kuuluu?"

"Er..."

Severus grinned a bit. He tried the form of address he had heard earlier, and imitated the sound.

"Um... juu?"

He succeeded with this in so far as the girl smiled and said her name again. Severus tried to pronounce the name, but even to him it sounded wrong. The girl smiled wider and repeated the word slowly, making clear distinctions between the syllables. They practised a bit, but it didn't go as smoothly as Severus wished it would. At least she didn't appear to be embarrassed anymore; so that plan had worked. After some minutes of trying Severus sighed frustrated and raised an eyebrow in, as he hoped, a questioning gesture.

"Mia?"

She looked surprised, but then laughed and nodded lively, and Severus was relieved. Again she asked him something he didn't understand, and he just shrugged. Mia smiled again and settled down on the edge of the bed next to him. She faced him and seemed to think about something, then straightened up and placed her hand on her chest. "Ai," she said. Then she placed her hand lightly on his chest and said, "Juu." Severus' mind clicked, and he understood. Smiling he hurried to follow her example.

"Ah! Ai - Juu. Minä - Sinä."

He made the same gestures Mia had used, but touching her arm instead of her chest. Somehow it seemed more appropriate, he smiled to himself. Mia's eyes glittered with excitement and joy. She held up six fingers and started to count off some other words.

"Ai - Juu - Hii - Shii- Wii - Juu - Thei."

Severus furrowed his brows. It was obvious that she was naming the other grammatical persons, but for the third she had used two different words. What was the difference? He repeated her words but stopped at the third one and looked questioningly at her again. She got it instantly and thought for a moment.

"Albus?"

Severus nodded, he knew whom she meant.

"Albus - Hii. Poppy - Shii." Mia gestured towards the nurse.

Severus laughed softly, he really could have thought about that himself. He nodded as a sign he had understood, and Mia seemed very pleased with herself. Severus repeated the words in English, then took his term with the same method.

"Minä - Sinä - Hän - Me - Te - He."

He had stopped for a short moment before he said the last one; after all, he was missing a sixth finger at the moment... Not to speak of the other four. He tried not to think about it, but something must have showed itself on his face, because Mia put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him gently in a hug. She murmured something in his ear he didn't understand, but from the tone of her voice it was something reassuring. He doubted that he could have paid much attention even if he understood what she said... Her warm breath on his shoulder, the soft skin of her cheek on his neck, and the warmth of her body so close to his was enough to occupy his mind at the moment. Far too soon she drew back again, looking at him in a concerned way that renewed his urge to pull her closer again. He resisted with effort and tried a half-hearted smile, just to make her smile again. Luckily it worked, and Mia tried her luck with the new Finnish words.

They continued to go through some simple vocabulary, Mia saying the English words, Severus repeating them and giving the Finnish words, which were repeated by Mia.

They enjoyed the situation, both curious about the other - and extremely different - language, and so they didn't notice how Dumbledore and Poppy watched them secretly. The two smiled at each other, before they retreated to Poppy's office without interrupting them.

Three hours later Severus understood some basic rules, and was able to understand and say short sentences in English. It wasn't as hard as he had feared at first when he had heard the foreign sounds, especially with Mia as instructor. Yes, Mia had definitively a harder time with the Finnish words and sounds. Severus didn't mind the challenge of learning a new language, but his body did mind the effort. Suddenly the room was swirling before his eyes, and he had the feeling to fall. Mia jumped off the bed and held him carefully, laying him back slowly. She looked very worried as she spoke to him slowly.

"I am sorry. You are still exhausted and I keep you from sleeping. You better rest now, I will visit you tomorrow again."

Severus understood most of that, but he didn't want her to leave. He gently took her hand with his right and opened his eyes again. He searched for the new and unfamiliar words.

"No, not... don't go. I am only..." He shrugged. "I am only tired. But you are... great help; and don't be sorry."

He hoped that he didn't sound as foolish as he was feeling at the moment. He had to learn more; he hated to be struggling for words to make himself clear. But Mia didn't seem to mind this at all, she only smiled and sat back on his bed again, still holding his hand.

"Ok, I'll stay. But you must sleep now, ok?"

Severus nodded faintly. It wasn't as if he had a choice, he was already drifting into sleep. The short hours of being awake had been exhausting, and he felt that now with full impact. On the periphery of his mind he felt how Mia stroked the back of his hand, and then there was only soft darkness.

Severus didn't notice how Hermione bent down and kissed his cheek before she left the hospital wing.

The whole school was on the Quidditch pitch in the afternoon of the same day, it was Gryffindor against Slytherin. The spirits were high, for it was a most promising match, and most of the students were indeed relieved that their Potions Master was recovering steadily. Especially the Slytherin team-players were riding on a wave of joy and played like heaven on earth, giving their contrahents a hard time. The players were hardly more than crimson and emerald dots against the light blue sky, blurring in their fast movements. Harry and Draco were fighting roughly and bitterly for the Snitch, diving, dodging, and faking movements to distract the other and ending the game. Draco sent Harry hurtling towards the ground with a well-placed bump in his back, but he was repaid instantly when Harry performed a looping and jerked Draco's broom aside with a swift kick. They both avoided a crash into the stands by mere inches, and while they turned and headed back they saw it at the same time.

Right in front of them flittered the Snitch in the sunlight; they reached for it simultaneously when an ear-splitting bang racked through the air, followed by sharp, eerily screeches. Harry and Draco looked at each other and raised in top speed side on side, Snitch and the match forgotten.

"An attack?" Harry shouted against the wind and looked wildly around him, trying to see something. Draco turned around and let out a scream.

"Down! Quickly, down!"

Harry dived instinctively and saw Draco taking off to the right side. He came closer to the stands and became aware of the shouts of confusion and fear. The students left the stands already, directed by the teachers, who looked up in the sky frequently. The other players had reached the way to the changing rooms already and went, still flying, inside. Harry slowed down and turned around when another bang thundered over the pitch. Harry watched a human figure breaking through the edge of the Forbidden Forest and running towards the castle, but before he could recognise the person he heard Draco shouting a spell behind him. Harry swept around and found Draco casting spell after spell at - creatures he had never seen before.

They looked like large eagles, nearly human-sized eagles, but on a closer look Harry saw that they had human heads, women's heads with brown-greyish hair, and - Harry sickened by the combination - bare breasts. The rest of their bodies were indeed eagle-style. Four of those creatures circled around Draco, trying to grab him with their murderous looking talons, and six of them were still following the running person, who now was close enough that Harry could see it was a man. He zig-zagged his way up to the castle, dropping down suddenly and casting the banging spell again before rolling and standing up again to continue running. The blast gained him a short head-start every time, so Harry tried it himself in Draco's general direction. Indeed the horrifying creatures took off for a moment, so Draco could dive and race towards Harry.

"Harpyies! They're harpyies, inside!"

Harry didn't need to be told twice. He fired a last bang against the shrieking and fluttering beasts and followed Draco inside the changing room. From there they made their way easily back into the castle. They were already greeted by the rest of their teams, but their attention was instantly drawn to the headmaster, who stood on top of the stairs in the entrance hall. He raised his arms, calling for silence.

"I'm relieved to tell you that nobody has been hurt by the harpyies. I will of course investigate the reason for their appearance, but until I have no proved explanation for this question I'd like to advice you not to worry. And the Quidditch match will be repeated, of course."

Dumbledore finished his little speech with his well-known twinkle. The students went back slowly to their common rooms, chattering and arguing about what had happened. Harry turned to follow Ron, but then he caught Dubledore's eyes. The headmaster gestured him to follow. Harry made his way towards him with an icy feeling in his stomach. Had those harpyies been sent by Voldemort? But then - who had been the man running from them? Dumbledore placed a hand on his shoulder and lead him directly to the hospital wing. Harry's heart leapt; who was it this time? Who had been hurt in an attack that was directed at him, Harry? He swallowed hard when they entered the infirmary - and let out a small cry of surprise:

Sitting on a bed, visibly exhausted but otherwise unharmed, was Remus Lupin.