XVI
A Moment of Uncertainty
A good night's sleep went a long way to rebounding Jennifer's energy for the next few days, but Severus knew that those he had not spoken to in a while were bound to be in worse condition. Inquiries were sent out, and he soon got a reply from Harry.
Early the next morning just before classes were about to start, Severus headed up in the mountains to a lone stone cottage where Sirius once took refuge. No one seemed to be there, and he glanced at his watch.
"Strange," Severus murmured to himself as he saw where the different needles were pointing. But just then there was a popping sound and Harry appeared, looking a bit out of breath.
"Oh, good, you're here, thanks," Harry said. "I didn't want to take any chances at the school, you know."
"I think it would have been fine, being that Draco seems to be avoiding me at the moment…" Severus said, waving it off.
"I know you've turned the castle into a fortress, but I can't risk even one of the wizards currently following me to get through," Harry interrupted. "Aurelius is in the hospital being treated for burns again. Thomas has tried to tell him it's time he took a leave, but he's going at it anyhow…"
"I'll talk to him," Severus said with a nod.
"That's not all. Sirius is in St. Mungo's as well, but for another matter," Harry said, pacing. "He's worse than I ever remember seeing him, Severus. Since he's stopped being able to change into his dog form, he's acting like one in his human form. I told Remus, he's on his way to visit."
"Probably not a bad idea. How is Ginny?" Severus said. Harry gazed at him a moment, then nodded.
"She's not well either, in fact…well, the only comforting thing about it is she has returned to her parent's house. She's locked herself in her own room, refusing to come out no matter what we do. If Molly stops feeding her to goad her to the kitchen, she doesn't eat…she keeps saying that she's put everyone in danger and that she doesn't want to cause any more trouble."
"Well, she is probably safe enough there, although I wonder if there is any way you can convince her to answer a few questions I have about her duties before she left…"
"Well, well, well, what does we 'ave 'ere, mates?" called out a voice. Harry rolled his eyes and shook his head. "If it isn't Potter again! Still hoppin' about like a rabbit, Potter, but I sees ya made a mistakes tryin' ta catch yer breath."
"Bacchus," Harry said, turning around. "I see you brought your thugs with you." Severus turned around as well to see a rather small gnarled wizard pointing a wand at them, while behind them was none other than a drooling troll and a dim-witted giant both armed with clubs and looking like they weren't quite sure what was going on or even if the people in front of them were supposed to be friend or foes. Another wizard stood on the edge of a tall rock overlooking them and also had his hand out, his face and arms strangely mottled with tanned patches of skin interrupted by patches of skin of sickly white.
"Now, ye'll be so good ta not ta call my street boys thugs, they're a mite sensitive, Auror," he said, slurring the name Auror. At the word, the troll and giant looked a lot more interested in bashing them and only stopped because of other wizard barking an order for them to stay.
"Bacchus' street boys? Rather unoriginal name for a gang," Severus commented calmly.
"If you only knew," Harry murmured.
"And who is this dandy with you, Potter?" Bacchus asked.
"I know who that is," said the other wizard letting out a sound like a half of a laugh. "That's the recreant himself! Hullo, Snape! Heard you nailed Hogwarts, after Dumbledore 'mysteriously' disappeared. Bumped the old man off, did you?"
"If I were capable of taking out Dumbledore, Kurgan, I would be very worried of what else I am capable of, if I were you," Severus said in an almost casual tone. "And since we are technically on the boundary line of the school, you might do well to make an exit while you still can."
"Well, I would, but I haven't burned any wizards in a week," Kurgan said nastily.
"Nothing that a simple charm can't ward against, Kurgan, one that you as a fire sensitive can't cast, may I remind you," Severus said unconcernedly.
"An' let us remind you, teacher, dat we outnumber you, and any sort of bravado you put on isn't going to save you from dat fact," Bacchus said.
"I believe you've miscounted, not that we were worried," Harry said evenly. "As I see it, it's four on four."
"Where's your other two then?" Bacchus challenged. Harry made only the slightest of gestures up to the roof of the stone cottage where sat a large brilliantly red Phoenix, Farynor, let out a warble of agreement, while a crane of iron opened its bronze beak letting out a strange hiss. "Bloody fire bird from Hell," Bacchus murmured.
"Wait until you see what mine can do," Severus said, a dark fire behind his eyes as he too pulled out a wand.
"Crush! Bash! Ring their necks like chickens!" Bacchus said, but before the two dull brutes had time to figure out if Bacchus was talking about the wizards or the birds, both Harry and Severus went into action. Flames burst into air, and the ground rumbled violently as the stone beneath Kurgan's feet began to crumble. The Giant and the Troll came crashing forward swinging at everyone they didn't know, the Giant's fist bashing into the cottage as it attempted to hit the birds.
While Farynor flew out of range with the blatant indifference of a bird who had been through this sort of thing a thousand times before, Descartes immediately became agitated, baring a frightening amount of iron teeth hidden under its beak before he sunk them into the troll's arm. The Troll began to howl in pain, bashing the Stymphalian against the wall of the cottage to try and get it loose. Being made of metal, however, the cottage began taking more of a beating than did Descartes, so the Giant intervened, attempting to crush the bird with his heavy spiked club. He came down on Descartes' neck between the wing blades and the bird broke free, taking a piece of Troll flesh with it as it hit the ground, nearly choking on it before getting it down.
"That's my bird, you overgrown brainless idiot!" Severus snarled, taking something out of his pocket. Harry, who was in a harrowing battle with Bacchus who kept throwing paralyze spells at him glanced over to see the beans hit the ground by the giant's feet, immediately turning into vines that ripped him up off the ground at an alarming rate and viciously throwing him like a catapult, landing so hard he caused a landslide effectively put him out of commission.
"And that's my Giant!" Kurgan growled and let flames burst out of his fingers.
Severus hadn't been really worried; he had thrown up the hood on his cloak which was charmed against flame and heat. Of course, he had forgotten he had his good Headmaster robes, which he realized…once he saw the smoke coming up the part of his legs below the cloak line…had not been treated with such precaution. Quickly he reacted, patting out the fire while Kurgan's laughter echoed through the commotion.
"Kurgan, stop sniggering and get over here!" Bacchus said in a panicked voice, and Kurgan immediately saw that Harry had gotten the upper hand, the wizard's wand well out of reach while wizard ropes worked to bind him from getting it. But before he could come to his aid, Severus had recovered and was aiming again.
"Bash! Get Potter!" Kurgan got out, rolling back to his feet after narrowly dodging the freeze spell that had been launched towards him. The Troll, who had been staring at his arm waiting for it to heal itself, suddenly looked up as his name was called and barreled forward with his club despite the fact that his left arm still hung limp at his side. Out of nowhere came Farynor, giving the Troll a monstrous headache by pecking him fiercely on his dull-witted head.
But that didn't stop him from taking a few vigorous swings at Harry, who had trouble even keeping his feet steady as the ground shook from the charging creature. Harry didn't want to risk the binding spell on Bacchus getting dispelled, but as Bash took his club and brought it down to where Harry's head had been, Harry tackled Bacchus to keep him from running and then pointed his wand at the ground just as the club hit. It turned into a sticky mess of tar that took a fast hold on it. The Troll stood dumbfounded at the state of his weapon, making a futile attempt at getting it out. It was so distracted, in fact, that it didn't notice a very large ring horned goat coming up behind and butting him straight down into the tar pit. Farynor took to the air, warbling with obvious approval.
"Isn't the goat just a bit textbook? Even for you?" Harry complained to Severus as he finished tying up his prisoner. "The beans were bad enough."
"It worked, didn't it?" Severus snapped back, turning his attention back to Kurgan, who had a strange look on his face. "Trying to Apparate, are we? I already bound the area to prevent that, you'll just have to deal with your problems now."
"I think not," Kurgan said, and threw down a smoke potion, thinking to make a quick escape on foot. Harry didn't see exactly what happened, but knew Severus wouldn't be put off by anything of that nature. Instead, Severus simply barreled through it just in time to see him taking off down the other side. Sliding more than running, Severus headed down a steeper incline to cut him off. As Kurgan spied him, he hesitated, bringing his wand up to cause the rocks above Severus to fall, but his short pause had been enough.
"Expelliarmus!" Severus growled and Kurgan's hand flipped him backwards from the sheer force of his wand ripping out of his hand. In no time, Severus was on him, and Kurgan found himself laying with the sun in his eyes and Severus' wand pointed at his throat.
"Do you know what happened the last time someone called me the recreant?" Severus said in a low, dangerous voice. "He killed himself after I gave him a taste of his own evil." Kurgan chuckled dryly and only got the tip of the wand pressed even more forcefully against him.
"My evil is no worse than yours, Snape. The only real difference between me and you is that Dumbledore spoke up for your sorry ass while I spent my time in Azkaban. All I've done after is attempt to make my own way in the world, same as you."
"And you do it by petty thievery, bullying, and burning houses," Severus pointed out.
"Yes, well, not many want a pyro on the payroll. Would you?" Kurgan said.
"Good point, actually, so we're both better off with you dead, I think. Any last words?"
"None come to mind," Kurgan said calmly. "None that I would divulge to you at any rate."
"It's all right, Severus, I've got him covered, you can put down the wand now," Harry said, his voice sounding strange.
"Why? He'll only get out of jail and come back after us the minute he's out," Severus reasoned.
"Just because you thrive on revenge, Severus, doesn't mean everyone does," Kurgan said calmly. "Everyone has their vices, and personally, I prefer money. The fun doesn't end the moment you acquire it, and there's no money in revenge. Now are you going to spell my head off or not?"
Just then, Severus lost his grip on his wand and it went flying out of range. He turned and stared at Harry, whose face was pale and rather grim.
"Do you really think I would have killed him?" Severus asked.
"Sorry, Severus, but with the way things have been lately, I'm not willing to take any chances," Harry said. "Now get up so I can bind him."
"Better luck next time, Snape," Kurgan sneered as Severus got up and snatched up his wand. "Although I admit I'd love to see what would go down if the two of you went dueling."
"I hope that's something no one will ever see," Harry said, gagging him first.
"Yes, I'm not certain I would want to see the outcome of that myself," Severus agreed, glancing over at Harry, who still looked wary. It was then Severus noticed he hadn't bothered to put away his wand. Shrugging off the scrutiny, Severus sent up sparks before finally putting it away.
