The Raven II
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.
A/N: Whoops, I had too much time and relaxation between chapters and I left a little (not important) hole in the last chapter. At the end of Dumbledore's talk with Ron and Hermione, he told Ron to stop by the office after class. Just so you know, that's when Dumbledore told Ron "the secret" about Harry being in hiding, who naturally told Hermione.
Chapter 4 (uploaded 7/27/04)
The next visitor of the evening was Professor McGonagall, Harry's Transfiguration instructor. "Minerva, how may I help you?"
"I'm sure you've heard that Albus has placed Harry Potter with a member of the Order for his protection."
"The news is all over the school. Honestly, that man could stand to learn a thing or two about keeping a secret. It will be all over the Daily Prophet by tomorrow morning."
"Because of Mr. Potter's absence the Gryffindor team needs to try out and train a new seeker." Snape looked bored and suddenly found his empty tea cup very interesting. McGonagall continued unfazed, "I've come to talk to you about how you've booked the Quidditch pitch. Really, Severus, the Slytherin team isn't even there for the whole time you've booked the pitch. Most days they show up, half-heartedly toss the quaffle around for a half hour before withdrawing to the locker room."
"They've been working on strategy lately."
"Then they shouldn't book the pitch for more than the half hour they're going to use it."
"I'll have a talk with the team captain. Anything else?" Snape raised his eyebrows and had a smug look on his face.
"Harry Potter..."
"Again?" his mood took a sarcastic turn, "You do realize the world does not revolve around Potter, don't you? Hogwarts shall go on without him."
"We were talking about Quidditch. This is about Mr. Potter's studies."
"Oh, let me guess. Special boy, special circumstances, special favors. Maybe I should just pass him through the whole year. Listen, we had a deal that he had to prove he could handle the work by Halloween or I would drop him from the course. A favor to you, as I recall. His work has barely been acceptable until now." Harry's head popped out of under his wing to squawk, 'Bastard! You're calling two favors for the same thing! Hers and mine.' Snape felt Harry's anger again and opened the cage to calm him down, but the angry bird attacked his fingers when they passed the threshold of the door. "Fine you can just stay in there and cool off." Snape slammed the cage door and covered him up to let him stew the dark. "So what are you asking, Minerva?"
"We were talking about Mr. Potter's potions work."
"Must you keep bringing up that name? Look, Potter is out of the school and out of my hair, not my responsibility any longer. It could well work out that I don't have to allow him back in my class when he returns so that I only have to deal with him like I do Longbottom."
"For harvesting potion ingredients?"
"How could you accuse me of such? I saved Longbottom today from bullying and embarrassment today. I didn't even have him do anything difficult and I didn't take points. How many times have I saved Potter's arse, even when I wasn't asked to?"
"I would expect that from any professor here. However, you're not doing Mr. Longbottom any favors by giving him detention for getting bullied. At any rate, Mr. Potter is in hiding for his safety, as well as everyone else at this school. I only ask that you allow him to pick up where he left off when he returns."
"Oh sure, Potter gets special treatment from everybody because he's the hero of the wizarding world. He is excused from classes while he gets to play hide and seek," Snape ranted on. 'No I'm not,' Harry croaked under the covered cage, 'I have to attend classes.' Snape snorted, "Who is protecting him, anyway, Lupin? It's not like the werewolf has a job."
"That's information given on a need to know basis. Apparently, Albus doesn't think I need to know. He says only that he's being well cared for and that he will keep up with the lectures, though he hasn't told me how that's being done either."
"Then I hope that applies to his potions studies as well. I will test him when he returns and make my decision then."
"Fair enough. One last thing, I have to go to London tomorrow. Would you mind taking supervision duty in Hogsmeade?"
"Why not, Severus Snape has nothing better to do with his time on a Saturday. It's not like he needs to train his baby raven to be useful," he said sardonically.
"You're so cute like that," She got up to leave, "Thank you, Severus. Have a pleasant evening."
Though he couldn't see, Harry heard everything from his covered cage. He cackled when McGonagall said Snape was cute. 'She can be as sarcastic as Snape!' Realizing what she said before running down the hall, he jumped to the doorway to call to her, "I am not cute!"
Snape had already finished his work for the evening before McGonagall's arrival, so he wasted no time in closing up his office. He carried the baskets of fresh potions ingredients, neatly bundled and labeled, in his arms so he had Munin out of his cage and riding on his shoulder to the storage dungeon. As Snape put the bundles on the shelves to dry, Harry hopped off his shoulder and waddled around the top shelves. Out of sight of anyone looking up from the floor, he found a rack of vials labeled 6th year Slytherin experiment. Curiously it was dated the day before Harry woke up as a bird. 'Malfoy, that's how he did it. He was going to make the antidote tonight. Well, I'm supposed to be in hiding. He can't be too fast about it.'
"Munin, let's go," Snape called. Harry, flew down to his shoulder and rode down the hallway until Snape stopped in front of a bust of Salazar Slytherin. He bent over and whispered the password into the stone ear, "Hugin and Munin." The wall behind the statue revealed a door, which opened for the potions master.
Harry glanced around the room and shivered as the realization hit him how cold and impersonal it was. It was furnished like the rest of the castle, with an overstuffed sofa and a couple of armchairs next to the fireplace over a dark area rug, much like the Slytherin common room Harry had seen in his second year. Snape used the other half of the room as his study and library. He had an extensive collection of books and seemed to have an ongoing project, if the state of his work table was any indication. Off the main room there were two more doorways, one lead into a darkened hallway.
Snape felt Munin's chill and pointed his wand at the fireplace, "Incindio." When it roared to life, Harry startled and jumped off of his shoulder with a squawk, landing on the padded rug behind the sofa. Snape was about to go chasing after the bird when his attention was diverted.
"Severus," the head fireplace called. "Where have you been? I've been waiting all night for you to light your fireplace."
"Good evening, Lucius. My office hours are until 8 o'clock, but I was detained by a colleague. What is so important that you would wait all night to talk to me?" Severus addressed the head in the fireplace. Harry observed from under the couch.
"I've heard through sources in the Ministry that Harry Potter is not at the school."
Snape snorted and shook his head in disbelief at the speed in which this "secret" traveled the grapevine. However, Lucius took that as confirmation of his statement. "As one of his professors, would you know where he went? Certainly you're forwarding his assignments to him, are you not?"
"The headmaster has not divulged this information with me or any other teacher in this school, to my knowledge. And no, I have not been asked to forward his assignments, nor has his head of house."
"See what you can find out then. According to Draco, tomorrow is Hogsmeade Saturday. Let's meet up at the Three Broomsticks, say noonish?"
"That's fine. I have to supervise the students in Hogsmeade, anyway."
Malfoy nodded and disappeared from the fireplace with a crack. Left with a bad taste in his mouth, Snape extinguished the fire. "So much for warmth. Did you notice how cold it got when he popped in?" Harry laughed from under the couch.
"Munin?" Snape called. Harry crawled from under the couch and waddled to the potion professor's shoe. He pecked at his shoe buckle to get attention. "There you are," Snape picked up his little friend. "Do you see what I have to put up with? I thought a fire would be nice tonight, but I've changed my mind. It's not easy, you know, playing both sides. I hate it, I really do. For one thing, Malfoy's trying to get information from me so that he could take credit from the Dark Lord. I get no recognition from either side. I can't else my cover will be blown one way or the other. No, I must stay in the shadows where nobody sees me. Ever hear the expression 'Out of sight, out of mind?' That's me. If they don't see me, they don't remember who really did the deed. Someone, undoubtedly steps in and takes the credit." Harry listened to Snape's little rant and wanted to make him feel better, so he did what Hedwig would do for Harry. He made his way up Snape's arm and leaned into the black clad chest in front of him, playfully nipping at fingers whenever they came in close enough. He got the feathers behind his head and neck ruffled in return and sat quietly that way for a while.
Snape was brought out of his thoughts when a little spark popped in his fireplace. "Ugh, another fire call." Snape quickly grabbed his black cloak and wand. Jumping at the action, Harry flew to Snape's shoulder. "You don't have to come, but I welcome the company." They exited quickly and quietly.
Harry noticed how thorough and methodical Snape was whenever he did anything, and patrolling the halls of Hogwarts was no exception. He stopped in front of the one-eyed witch and prodded it, grabbing its shoulders and attempted to shake it. 'Still trying to figure that one out, eh Snapey?' Harry thought to himself.
Snape strode past the gargoyle in front of the Headmaster's office, stopped and turned around. He started to say the pass word, but then turned to continue in his original direction. Squawk! The gargoyle jumped out of the way and the door opened. "Ahh, Severus. Patrolling again," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled brightly despite the dim lighting in the hallway. "Hello, little raven," long white fingers reached out of Dumbledore's purple sleeve to scratch behind Harry's head and smooth down the tufts on top of his head. Harry leaned into the comforting touch.
"I was wondering, Headmaster, is there somewhere I might send Mr. Potter's homework assignments?"
"Always to the point, aren't you, Severus? I'm afraid Mr. Potter is in no position to write essays and such. He has to stay mobile and be prepared to fly off at a moment's notice," Dumbledore affectionately tapped Harry under his beak as he said that. "We can't have him saddled down with tomes or leave evidence of where he's been."
"Thank you, anyway, Professor." Severus bowed his head in thought and rushed through the rest of the hallways to his chamber. He headed straight for his desk and scribbled out a note on a small parchment. "Munin, your first assignment. This is addressed to Harry Potter but I don't want you to deliver it to him. Just fly around tonight, have fun, lose the note in a pond or a cave or up a tree." However, before attaching it to the raven's leg, Snape tapped it with his wand and waited for the neon glow to dissipate before tearing off a corner. 'Tracing charm! What are you up to?' Harry glared.
Harry never got his answer. When Snape opened the little owl hole in his room, like one in the potions classroom, Harry flew out of the castle and straight to Dumbledore's window, but upon arriving, Fawkes informed him that the headmaster had turned in for the evening. Harry flew back out the window, 'Fine, then I'm just going to fly around all night. He can go on a wild goose chase, for all I care.' Harry huffed as he flew away from Hogwarts, but he spotted the owlry tower out of the corner of his eye. 'Ooooh, I wonder if Hedwig is busy. I won't be doing myself any favors by getting lost.' So he turned around and flew to Hedwig.
"Hedwig?" Harry croaked softly, "are you sleeping?"
"No, my love. Owls are nocturnal." Hedwig's head turned around 360 degrees, "What do you have there, a midnight delivery?"
"Yeah, it's for Harry Potter. But I'm supposed to lose the letter. Anyway, I just want to fly around tonight. Can you come with me so that I don't get lost?"
He and Hedwig flew out into the cool night sky. Hedwig hooted, "I hate to tell you this, but according to the charm, you've already had a successful delivery to Harry Potter."
To be continued...
----- ooOoo -----
A/N: A million thanks to every reviewer for their comments and questions, including starangel2106, Mayahissss, ataraxis, Artimis2003, Spezlee, Silverthreads, Athena Dumbledore, Caytin Lowe, 731nisei, lillinfields, tall oaks, LyonsRoar, Mikee, KC, texasjeanette, El loco uno, skipastarseeker, Persephone Lupin, Wren Truesong, Curie.
Starangel2106: Wow, your review came in like two minutes after I posted chapter 3!
Tall oaks: Dumbledore was going to tell Snape about Raven!Harry but he had the bright idea of hiding Harry under everyone's noses.
El loco uno: Thanks for the cookie! Had it with hot chocolate for breakfast.
Persephone Lupin: ROFL, you're getting ahead of me. But if "don't ask, don't tell" isn't a Slytherin rule, it should be. Sorry, no more Head 'n Shoulders™ in the story. Snape only had a sample bottle couldn't find anymore in the wizarding shops when he ran out. They gave him a funny look when he asked about it, so he stopped asking around.