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.

Chapter 8 (uploaded 9/13/04)

Harry awoke mid-morning under Hedwig's wing again. "Good morning, love. Have some breakfast." Hedwig nudged the sleepy black raven toward bowls of fruit, seeds, and water. The Weasley owls, Errol and Pig, listened intently as Harry relayed the events of the previous night. He had barely finished telling his tales when they flew off to find Ron and Ginny to pester them into writing their family.

After eating, Harry flew back to the hospital wing and landed in the window. Draco was feeling well, but for some reason, Madam Pomfrey would allow him no visitors, saying only that Professor Snape wanted to talk to him first. He feigned sleep when he spotted Harry come in through the window and started removing the pillow case from his own pillow as soon as the raven hopped down to the bed. Harry peered down from the top of the curtains around Professor Snape, then landed at his feet to crawl up to his chest. Harry craned his neck to get a better look at the potion professor's eyes. WHOOSH! He found himself inside Malfoy's pillow case.

'Damn! I didn't think he'd try anything while I was on top of Snape,' Harry cried. RAWK! RAWK! AAAAWWWWWRRRRKKK!

"What are you doing, Draco?" Snape asked. Even from inside the pillow case, Harry could tell there was a dangerous tone to his voice.

"I didn't want him to fly away again," Draco said stressfully. "Why are you in here, anyway?"

"I had a rough night." Suddenly, Harry was upside down and being shaken before he was dumped onto the soft bed. AAAACCCCKKK!! Harry spread his wings and charged at the blond Slytherin. He was grabbed mid-air and found himself in one of Snape's big hands, held against the potion master's chest. "Leave him alone. Anyway, he'll come back to me when I want."

"Pomfrey said I couldn't have visitors until you talk to me." Draco dumped himself in the chair beside Snape's hospital bed.

"It's Madam Pomfrey, to you. And she is correct." Snape pushed himself to sit up. Harry could see and feel that Snape really wasn't ready for this.

"I'm well enough to go back to my room," Draco almost demanded.

"I am not, you will have to wait." Snape said flatly.

"Why can't I have visitors, then?"

Snape closed his eyes and leaned back on his pillows. "Fine. You need to hear this first."

"I'm listening, sir."

"First, you cannot tell anyone what really happened to put you into Hospital. Your father was never here, understand? Make sure Crabbe and Goyle have the same understanding."

"Yes, sir."

"You did well not to cry out, but at the moment you're being a spoiled brat." Draco's eyes narrowed at Snape's words but he remained silent. "Your father will be expecting more from you from here on. If you disappoint him, he will not be lenient on you." Draco took a big gulp but remained steely-eyed. "I would like to review a few potions and spells that could be prove useful to you in the near future. I will have you do it under duress, as the conditions that you might have to brew them in might be similar. Your first lesson is this afternoon."

"But I'm not even out of here yet!"

"My classroom 1 o'clock. You know which students are children of Death Eaters, they were your play dates when you were little. Be sure they are in attendance, as well."

"That only leaves enough time to change and have lunch."

"Enough," Snape growled. "Lastly, I think you owe Munin, here, some gratitude."

"No! Come on!"

"Draco! I'm speaking." Malfoy grit his teeth. "Munin was responsible for getting help to you in the forest. Your father intended to continue the beating but was interrupted to avoid discovery. As you know from the pain and the blood, it was quite bad. Your body had gone into shock. Now, get out." Draco didn't have to be told twice. He changed into his school robes and collected his things, practically running out the door.

Harry wriggled to get out of Snape's grasp but found that Severus had slid down and fallen asleep with his heavy hand resting on top of his feathery back. Resigned, Harry laid his head down on Snape's chest and closed his eyes.

"Headmaster?" Harry opened his eyes when he heard the deep baritone voice.

"Good day, Severus." Albus Dumbledore was seated in the chair next to the bed and had taken off his hat. "I hope you're feeling better."

"I am, thank you." Snape still hadn't realized Harry's presence so the baby raven whimpered for his release. "Oh, sorry Munin," Snape lifted his hand immediately so that Harry could hop to Dumbledore.

"Voldemort's sending his Death Eaters to terrorize Muggles again."

"No, Death Eaters are terrorizing Muggles for their own target practice or entertainment. Their task is to find Harry Potter."

"Does he intend to kill Mr. Potter or use him for another purpose?" Dumbledore asked quietly. 'Yeah, what does he think I am, a potions ingredient?' the little bird shuddered as memories of Voldemort's rebirth came to mind. 'Right, never mind.'

"That hasn't been revealed to me. But I must compliment you on your ability to keep secrets. I thought you were a fool to let the world know that the Potter boy had been removed from the school. I only hope you tell me some day how you did it."

"Thank you, Severus. You will find out soon enough, I'm sure." Dumbledore took Harry in his hand and held him up to eye level, "It's not often Professor Snape gives praise, so it must be very special." Harry bobbed his head up and down in agreement. "The ministry has seen fit to restore the Dursley's residence and obliviate their memories of last night's events."

"Who?" Snape was distracted by the lunch tray Madam Pomfrey quietly placed on his lap. Snape's hand went straight for the sky blue potion and swallowed it all in two gulps.

"Harry Potter's relations."

"Mmm," Severus nodded.

"Harry will be able to return next summer for his holidays," Dumbledore stroked the bird when it seemingly sighed. Severus only shrugged as he suddenly found his appetite. "I do need to ask you about the clown that has joined the Death Eater ranks."

Severus snorted and pulled away the pumpkin juice that he was about to bring to his lips. "Which clown would that be?"

"The Death Eater with colorful hair and skin. The one that had been knocked out cold by Mr. Potter's cousin." Dumbledore tugged on his beard while Harry cackled.

"Pettigrew must have had an unfortunate encounter with a mad interior decorator. I suppose the paint bucket he fell into might have had magical properties. If you will excuse me, Headmaster, I have a potions lesson to prepare."

"Interesting." Dumbledore smiled genially. "Nonsense, Severus. You have the whole day to recover."

"Sir, with the Dark Lord's activities on the rise, he will soon be looking to add to his ranks. I must prepare the most likely recruits for their survival. Since Potter, the wizarding hero, isn't here for his occlumency or potions lessons, I can use the time for an afternoon lesson on the potions most helpful in recovering from physical beatings."

Harry looked between the two professors. 'Can I come to the junior Death Eater lessons, too?'

----- ooOoo -----

Draco and his gang waited in the hallway in front of the door to the potions classroom. Snape walked past, "Follow me." Harry, riding on Snape's shoulder turned around to face Malfoy and return his glare.

Snape lead them to a dark, windowless dungeon, already set up with benches and cauldrons. "Quickly, everyone find a cauldron. Quite a range of talent we have here. Everyone from third year to seventh. I expect each one of you to work on your own potion. I am doing this for your own survival. Today we will be covering a few potions that you might need if you were ever physically beaten. The various potions will aid your recovery. On the first black board is the procedure for preparing murtlap to heal minor cuts and superficial wounds. You have a half hour to complete it." As the Slytherin students went to work, Harry instantly recognized the result as what Hermione had given him to soak his hand after detentions with Umbridge, Harry's fifth year DADA teacher.

Snape walked out of the room, leaving his bird perched on the highest bookshelves to supervise. "Call out if anyone stops working," were his last words to Munin before leaving. By the time he returned, all the sands in the hourglass had reached bottom. He inspected everyone's cauldron and made comments. It was hard to mess up that potion, even Crabbe and Goyle did well.

"Follow me," was all the potion master said. Everyone looked at each other and shrugged. Harry landed on Snape's shoulder as he opened a door to another dungeon. "Everyone in." Once the last Slytherin filed in, the door closed, leaving Snape and his bird in the hallway to peer into the little window in the door. The little peep window had its own door and bars. Snape closed it before the excitement started.

"He locked us in. Why'd he lock us in here?" a fourth year student who had been shaking the door from the doorknob asked, as he joined the group surrounding the wooden box in the center of the room. The box shook, wiggled and jumped on its own accord. Whatever was in there, wanted out desperately.

Pansy reached toward the lock but stopped when Draco yelled, "Don't open it! Whatever it is won't be pleasant."

"It's just a Quidditch set," Goyle declared.

Zambini looked at it suspiciously, "but only the snitch moves on its own. I don't think the little snitch is moving the box like that." The movements got more violent as they watched.

Nott stepped behind Goyle to keep someone big between himself and the box, "it looks like it will explode."

Millicent Bullstrode shoved the smaller Pansy Parkinson out of the way, "Well, I, for one, am not going to wait for an explosion." No sooner had she unlatched the lock, the top cover flew open to allow all the balls and four bludger bats to come flying out of the box. As soon as the game equipment were freed, they started flying around the room and playing with themselves without any regard to anyone else also in the room. Balls flew everywhere, bouncing off anyone or any thing that got in its way. Bludger bats aimed themselves at anyone and anything they could reach. Students went screaming and diving for cover, tripping over each other, but there was nowhere to hide. Nott had taken to pounding on the door and screaming for his for his release. Snape calmly walked back to the windowless classroom and sat behind the desk. "You're a bastard," Harry coo'd.

After a few more minutes, the door sprang open and the angry, screaming kids ran into the classroom to confront their professor. Snape returned a bored yawn, "Rough game, Quidditch." When he stood up, it got quiet. "Back to your cauldrons. Now! Anyone who is bleeding, apply your murtlap solution to your wounds first, then focus your attention on this recipe." Snape pointed at the second blackboard with his wand and the words appeared. "This will take care of the swelling and associated pain. The sooner you finish, the sooner you find relief for your bruises and contusions. Do not apply this potion to your bumps until I have come around and approved it. Raise your hand when you're ready for inspection." Harry's jaw dropped as he realized the purpose of today's lesson. He picked out the third year student who seemed to be struggling and on the verge of tears from his frustration and pain. Harry flew to his bench. The raven made comments, in his own way, to keep the kid on the right track. His brew turned out as well as Draco's.

Theodore Nott raised his hand. "Yes, Mr. Nott," Snape queried.

"Sir, are we going to cover headache draught today? I took a bludger bat to the back of my head."

"Anyone else?" A few more hands went up, they were sixth and seventh years. "You six come up here and take another cauldron. You will work two potions at the same time."

Snape stalked to Draco's table, "Would you like to attempt simultaneous potions?" Draco looked up at the third recipe and nodded. Snape put another cauldron on the bench.

Everyone finished about the same time. Snape announced, "Those of you who have managed a successful brew, package your potions and keep a small supply in your trunks. Clean up your areas before you leave and you can go. I strongly recommend you all learn to brew these potions in your sleep. But I sincerely hope you learned more than potions from today's lesson."

Nott grumbled under his breath, "Note to self: Don't play Quidditch in a locked dungeon."

The Potions Master supervised from his desk until everyone had finished. Harry was surprised that every student thanked him as they left. 'They were actually grateful for the lesson,' Harry mused. 'I am too, but I didn't get locked in a room with rogue Quidditch gear.'

----- ooOoo -----

After supper, the greasy-haired wizard took his raven for a walk around the lake. Snape stopped and sat on a rock to watch the sunset. He called Munin out of the trees, "You did well on your potion today. I know it was you, that recipe was far too advanced for that third year. But I don't know how you managed that, either. Look what I have for you, Munin" Harry followed the hand that reached into his robe pocket.

"A present for me?" Harry coo'd. Snape could feel his pet's excitement at the prospect of getting a present. "What is it?"

"It's a stuffed toy, a Golden Snidget," his thin lips curled into a smile. The golden yellow body was the size of a walnut, with stuffed golden wings. It had a little golden yellow head with little red jewel-like eyes. "The real thing is an endangered species, that's why we use mechanical snitches in Quidditch."

'I read that, it's in Quidditch Through the Ages,' Harry thought. "What's it do?" Harry couldn't remember ever having a stuffed toy, Muggle or magical. Harry pecked at the toy's head, grabbed it by the neck and started shaking it around. He looked up when Snape started laughing. "You should laugh more," Harry croaked, "you're certainly not the mean bastard you pretend to be."

When Harry's jaw dropped at the laughter, the snidget fell and rolled off the potion master's lap. Snape picked it up and threw it over the lake. Harry flew after it and caught it in his talons in mid air. He dropped the toy on the grass in front of the Slytherin Head and proceeded to pounce, let it roll away, pounce again until he got another laugh from the man who was once his most hated professor. "Accio snidget," Snape summoned the toy, only to throw it into the setting sun again. Harry repeated his catch, drop and pounce entertainment until it got too dark to see. He rode into the castle in Snape's pocket with his head resting on golden yellow toy.

----- ooOoo -----

That night, Harry found Hermione in Gryffindor common room studying. She was reading the potions assignment to herself when he landed on her desk. "Hi, Harry." Harry waddled across the table and turned back a couple pages of the textbook and croaked, "Read it to me, please."

Hermione stood her book up and whispered, "Ron and Ginny went home. Their family was attacked by Death Eaters this weekend and my parents wrote to tell me the Dark Mark was spotted over Surrey this weekend. Muggle police are playing it off as somebody's Halloween commercial promotion. Ginny wrote back that nobody was hurt, but the..." Harry coo'd, "I know, I was there!" Hermione stopped when the green-eyed raven bobbed his head, "You know? Oh, I wish I could have gone with them but then I might miss this week's DADA test. The new professor's covering a lot of material very quickly, but you won't any trouble catching up." Harry tapped the potions book a couple more times and looked back into her eyes.

"Do you want me to read the assignment to you?" Hermione smiled. Harry bobbed his head, "Please?"

"Hey, Parvati," she called across the room. "When I'm done reading Potions to Harry, would you read your Divination's assignment to him?"

"Sure! Lavender and I can take turns."

"I'm afraid that's all we have time for tonight, Harry," the bushy-haired witch said to the raven. He nodded in agreement.

To be continued...

----- ooOoo -----

A/N: I'm so glad you're enjoying the story. Great big hugs and thanks to starangel2106, Silverthreads, tall oaks, Mirriam Q Webster, Heart of the Wizard, Ms. Padfoot, ataraxis, elrohir lover, Athena Keating-Thomas, Romm, chickens, Prophetess of Hearts, Persephone Lupin, doublestar, Wren Truesong.

Starangel2106: I baked a brownie for you because your review came in within a few minutes of putting up the chapter. So where is it, you ask? I put it on a rack to cool and it disappeared. A werewolf might have been spotted in the vicinity.

Silverthreads: Yes they are. My parrot learned to say 'Up' when he wanted to be picked up. It was originally my command for him to step up to my hand.

Mirriam Q Webster: Don't worry, I will continue updating until my posted stories are completed.

Ms. Padfoot: I know what you mean. That little review button doesn't work for me either on my home computer. I think it has something to do with the software that kills pop-up windows.

Romm & Prophetess of Hearts: You'll have your answer soon enough, maybe the next chapter.

Wren Truesong: I loved your long review. I like the thought of Harry being Hedwig's little owlet.