Iv – Who gets mystified?
Rosalie used a medicine dropper to place one drip of Harry's collected saliva into another vial she had prepared on her brewing station and recited an incantation from one of the old parchments she had been studying. When the mixture changed from a green sludge to a thin hot red clear liquid, she nodded to herself and ushered Harry out the back door and into the rear garden.
Harry had only seen the outside of the house in the dark last night. The front property had looked unloved and maybe even abandoned for some time and even though the inside was clean and cozy, it was dated and not quite homey yet. The back garden, however, was beautiful! A small, paved patio led to a stone walkway that melted into soft green grass as it divided down the middle of the yard. Raised planter boxes bordered either side of the area and were filled with many types of flowering plants in every color, veggie stalks, and a small gourd patch. In the far-left hand corner, butting up against the wrought iron fencing, was a small hot house. On the other side of the fence he saw a meadow, with a small brook running through it, and beyond that, a dense patch of old forest. Harry gapped at the lushness. Rosalie did say she enjoyed gardening.
She sighed satisfactorily next to him. "Ahh, yeah, this is the reason I even took a second glance at this house when I was looking to purchase." She gestured around her with a smile. "I mean, look at it! I can grow my own brewing ingredients, any medicinal plant for my salves, all by myself. And when my permit for level 3 master potions is finally approved for transfer from the states, I'm going to do just that. I'll never have to buy preserved from the apothecary again. Bloody Vultures."
"You really like potions, huh?"
"I do. They have a wonderful duality and complexity. You could brew for healing, brew to harm. Sometimes with just a tiny little adjustment in the brew, you can turn a lethal poison into medicine that could save a life. Take a wolfsbane brew for example. If you took even a small sip, it would stop your heart in your chest, but to a Lycanthrope, It's the difference between waking the morning after a full moon with a bit of a headache, or waking up to your family's body parts strewn about." She moved to uncork her vial. "Now, let's get this over with. One less thing to worry about."
Harry didn't answer, he was still digesting what Rose had said about her potions. He knew what wolfsbane was, for sure. After his first scathing potions lesson at Hogwarts with Snape, he had made it a point to look up the plant. He felt like an imbecile when he discovered Monkshood and Wolfsbane have no difference, they were the same sodding plant, it was also highly toxic if not used properly. He didn't know it could be used to help people though.
He was brought back from his thoughts by Rosalie "Here goes nothing!"
She poured the vial's contents on to the stone patio. The ground shimmered and moved like water rippling in a pond as the red liquid soaked into the stones, then nothing.
"How do we know it worked?" Harry questioned.
Rose shrugged. "Only One way to find out!" She grabbed his arm and led him back through the door, staff in hand just in case. Nothing happened. No pull to the ceiling. No blowing up. She held her breath for another moment. Wait for it… she thought
After a long minute of nothing, Harry felt his feet heat up. A slow warmth began to spread through his insides, up to his legs and his arms towards his belly and down his face. It wasn't a burning heat, and it did not hurt, it felt, nice? Finally, after a moment the heat settled into his chest, and it pulsed with his heartbeat until it faded out.
"Woah." He said slowly, touching his chest. "I think it worked. I feel… safe." He smiled. So did Rosalie.
"Aw man, No Pop goes the weasel, eh? Bollocks."
"Shut! Up! Albert! That is exactly what I was hoping for, Harry. Well now that it is safe to leave the house, Go on and get your shoes. We have some errands to run and then you and I are going foraging in the meadow. I need some valerian and foxglove. Al, you're staying in the car."
They went into the city to the supermarket, to a clothing store for Harry, at his cousin's insistence, and had a later lunch from a takeaway place where Rosalie was on a first name base with the counter lady. Despite her obvious penchant for magic and potions, Rose seemed to enjoy a lot of non-magic things. Today was a surprisingly very muggle day. Once they came home and all their parcels put away, Rosalie made to get ready for her foraging. All of a sudden, Harry felt crowded in. He wasn't used to spending so much one on one time with any adult no matter how nice they were. He looked like a wound up spring ready to pop.
She eyed him warily, sensing his displeasure. "You don't have to come, if you don't want to."
"Oh no, I'd like to go." He lied "I'd like to be outside for a bit. It's just, I'm not used to having this attention at home, ya know, someone around all the time. I was on my own a fair bit on Privet Drive." He rubbed the back of his neck looking at the ground. How pathetic did he sound to her right now?
Rosalie, understanding the awkward body language of a teenager, was struck with what she thought would be a brilliant idea. "How about this, you go gather the foxgloves out in the back field, maybe explore a bit. D'ya know what they look like?" She looked pointedly at him. Harry nodded "I have some cauldrons in stasis that will surely expire soon if I keep neglecting them. Go keep yourself entertained while I work, will you?" The boy looked happier. "But stay within sight of the house please? That's not the Forbidden Forest out there, but you can get turned around quite fast without even trying. Back in before dark!"
"I'll behave!" Harry had every intention of keeping out of trouble. Of course, as we know, trouble always found him even when he wasn't looking for it.
Professor Severus Snape was the youngest professor to ever hold a position at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was Potions Master in the 4th degree. He created his own spells, held patents for is own brews, skilled in incredible defensive arts, an Occlumens and a Legilimens. He was the best damn spy Dumbledore could have ever hoped to get his sticky hands on, and here he was, wondering around the North coast of England on babysitting duty?!
Disgraceful. Loathsome. That damned Potter spawn!
"I'll drag him to the Headmaster by his ear lobe." He muttered as his apparition dropped him on the side of a nearly abandoned road next to a corn field. "Joyous day, I've found "Joe Shmoe's Road." He pinched the bridge of his nose, willing the niggling headache from getting any worse.
He'd been up all night and his investigation had led him to this particular area after speaking with the nincompoops from the cursed purple Azkaban on wheels. Yes, they had picked up a boy from Petunia's neck of the woods. Yes, he fit the description Severus had given them, and surprisingly, Yes, Stan had remembered where they had dropped him off. A whisp of the boy's magical signature clung to the bus. It was just enough for a "point me" spell and apparition to a general area of Potter's vicinity.
"We would have never looked up here." he mused. Last evening, he had offered for Mini to take charge of checking Potter's likely whereabouts; The Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Ally, Hogsmeade, the know-it-all's house, but he hadn't heard a peep from her or Albus on whether the boy was located or not, so he continued his inquiry and it lead him here. To this corn field. On Joe's Road.
He was seething. Potter had better be in mortal danger to make this trip worth anything.
Snape took a sharp inspiration as the second cast point me spell left his wand vaguely waved back and forth in the air, indicating to walk off into the nearby wood. Oh, good, maybe a large creature would eat him, and he could be done with this obligation. Oddly, he felt a wave of admonishment creep into his gut. If anything were to truly happen to the boy, Lily would haunt him worse then her memory already had been.
Pushing his regret from his mind, Snape trudged through the thick underbrush for a long while. Soon the sky would settle into twilight. If he didn't find hide or hair of Potter soon, he would go back to the castle. He needed to eat, he needed to sleep and with last night's panic induced adrenaline starting to wane, he wondered how much further he could go. A final point me gave a more definitive direction, and soon Snape found the other side of the forest. It cleared into a rather picturesque meadow filled with wildflowers and tall grasses, that is, it would have been a lovely sight, had that damn brat not been in the middle of it. And what was he out there doing? Picking posies in the sunset.
Snape stalked up near where the boy was standing, completely oblivious to everything around him. He was about to call out and hopefully scare the child into wetting his pants, when out of the corner of his eye he saw a black streak dart through the grass. The fading sun played shadow tricks and it was difficult to see where the streak was heading, it almost looked like a dog. A large black dog. From out of the shadows, it was upon Potter as to attack from behind. Black!
"Potter! Run! Get out of here!" Snape sped full bore across the field, wand in hand. Harry saw Snape and then saw the dog. He wasn't sure which one was scarier at the time, but he did would do as he was told! Twisting around to run back for the grounds of the house in a panic, he fell over his own feet. The dog advanced on him.
Snape drew back his wand and threw a flipendo. The dog leapt out of the way of the jinx and lunged for Severus, snapping at his face. Falling backwards, he braced one arm against the throat of the dog to keep his teeth from sinking into his neck. "Homorphus!" Snape managed to strain the spell out.
Harry could only watch the struggle happening yards away. Snape on the ground while a large dark animal growled and snapped at his face and neck. Harry saw the animal transform into a human shape, and then before Snape could do anything else, vanished with a CRACK!
Recovering from his shock, Harry scrambled to his feet and approached the man still on the ground. Snape looked very un-Snapeish laying in a huffing heap on the ground. His normally pale face was flush as he tried to catch his breath.
"Sir, are you hurt? What are you doing here?"
"The question, Mr. Potter, is what are YOU doing here?! Have you ANY idea what of what kind of danger you are in right now?!" He looked incredibly angry. Harry had seen him angry before, but not like this.
"Are you the danger right now, sir?"
Snape recovered enough to get to his feet. "I very well could be if the next words out of your mouth are not a very valid reason to be wondering around an empty field in the middle of nowhere!"
"I.. was asked to find some foxgloves." Harry held up the small collection of long stalked pink flowers in his hand. They had been crushed during his scurry away from the beast.
"Pity, I see I failed you once again with my teaching prowess. Those, Mr. Potter, are snapdragons."
"Bollocks…" Harry whispered, looking disappointedly at the bent stalks.
"Indeed." Snape sneered then turned to walk away from the boy, calling over his shoulder "Come! Professor Dumbledore will want to count the hairs on your head to make sure you are entirely in one piece."
"I'm not going with you. I'm staying here. With my cousin."
Snape stopped mid step, almost frozen. "What. Cousin?"
Rosalie knew she should use this time to finish brewing, or review the charts sitting on her desk, or work on the coocoo for coco puffs charms of the house, the latter was probably the most pressing. However, this was the first moments by herself in almost 3 days, so she opted instead for a long hot shower, some of her music, a hot cup of tea, and her absolute favorite house wear. There was still tomorrow for catch up work before having to go back on shift at St Phils'. It wasn't quite dusk out when she emerged from the bathroom, her hair in a towel to dry. It didn't seem like Harry was back yet and, in an attempt, to not smother the teen, she decided to give him 15 more minutes before going out to collect him.
Savoring the last few moments of her life as a completely independent woman, something she had vowed to never give up to anyone ever again, Rose popped the kettle on the stove, pulled two mugs for tea, stirred her cauldrons, and cranked up the volume of the radio by the kitchen sink to near concert levels.
There was no way she would hear the front door open and close as she warbled along with the song, but she did hear the resounding thud and loud cursing moments later.
-IOWL-
Harry grimaced at the loud rock music coming from the kitchen. He turned to look back at his professor asking wordlessly just to give him a second to warn his cousin of their entry. He knew now, since his trip with Rose into town, that she enjoyed rock bands, and singing along to them , and, although she would not make it rich on a world stage, she wasn't too terrible to listen to. Not like when Aunt Petunia would croon sometimes in the morning to songs by artists like Melissa Etheridge. Blugh.
However, He was not prepared for what he saw when he walked into the kitchen. There was Rosalie, kettle whistling steam behind her, her hair in a pink bath towel turban, black pajama shorts, fuzzy gray slippers, dragon skin oven mitts on both hands, and the most surprising item of all, a very old style oversized Slytherin green jumper.
"…..So now you know
Whooo gets mystified?
Show me the power child, I'd like to say
That I'm down on my knees today….."
She was using a glass stirrer from her brew station as a make-believe microphone and she played air guitar expertly. Harry stared open mouthed for a second, and then realized Snape was right behind, peering over his shoulder from the kitchen doorway, his mouth nearly hanging open as well. He nudged his professor backwards. "Out! Give me a second, will you"
Snape stumbled back, too shocked to reprimand the boy for the shove.
"Merlin, it's really her!" he thought.
Then, suddenly, his face made hard contact with the solid wooden floor under him. "God Damn it!"
He must have momentarily blacked out with the collision, as the next thing he heard was the music cutting out, scuttling around him, someone yelling, a spell and finally he was able to move his limbs freely. He realized he was surrounded by a small pool of blood. "I think my nose may be broken."
"I think so too. Don't get up! I need to check your head and neck." Hands were moving about his neck and shoulders. "Alright, I'm going to have you roll over and I'll help you sit up. Easy."
When his eyes focused, Severus thought he had been knocked so hard that he was sent back in time. There, in front of him, waving a lumos charm back and forth and staring him in the eyes, was Rosalie Novack.
"Pipsqueak?"
A/N: I know it's shorter than normal, but I really really wanted to end it there. I already have more written down, including snark from all present parties. Hope you enjoyed!