Chapter Two ; Caught
Severus' strides through the forest became less purposeful as he entered a much more impenetrable area. They had long since passed through the outer rim which consisted of tall, spindly dead looking trees and scattered thorny undergrowth but here the way was far less manageable.
The ground itself was very uneven and littered with a thick decaying mulch of countless fallen leaves which offered protection for numerous crawling creatures while enormous exposed roots crept along its surface, patiently waiting to trip up unsuspecting passers by.
The trees themselves were ancient, twisted, gnarled leviathans, whose dense canopy prevented the pitiful amount of silver moon light from penetrating through to the occupants below. Vast bramble bushes had woven their way between the trees, their elongated thorns eagerly jutting out, ready to snag clothing and sever flesh.
The air was heavy and filled with unpleasant, pungent smells and despite the rain, it was possible to make out the sounds of several night-feeders scurrying about in search of their latest meal or the occasional beating of bat wings as they flew about confidently in the surrounding darkness.
Severus loved this place.
He appreciated the complexity of the environment and the merciless nature and survival instincts of the creatures that inhabited it. To survive here took skill and cunning, life was harsh, the weak and infirm were ruthlessly dispatched and fools were not suffered gladly.
As that thought passed through his mind, he forced himself to once again turn around and check on the progress of the two students in his care, though it was hardly necessary as both were making enough noise to awaken the proverbial dead as they trudged their way through the unforgiving undergrowth.
With an aggravated sigh, he decided they had probably ventured in far enough, after all he had to meet back with Lupin in less than an hour. On closer inspection the area looking pretty promising, he could make out some small clumps of aconite and asphodel and there were no doubt plenty of tube worms buried just below the damp earth as the rain would have drawn them closer to the surface. He couldn't spot any knot grass or nettles but there were generous amounts of flux weed and although he wasn't in short supply, it was always handy to have some. He would just have to remember to store it separately from his supply harvested during a full moon. To his right was the decaying trunk of a fallen tree, most likely it had been struck by lightening during last year's winter storms and now chances were good that it would harbour a good supply of black beetles.
"You pair make a mountain troll look almost balletic," he sneered at the stumbling duo.
But the comment was answered only by a couple of frustrated grunts as the boys once again tried to tug their robes free from the ensnaring foliage and
Harry couldn't help but mutter a harsh profanity at the sound of riping fabric.
"Here will be fine," Severus gestured to the surrounding area, "Potter you dig up the asphodel and cut off as much mature root as you can, Longbottom you're responsible for the Aconite and for Merlin's sake remember to wear your gloves !"
"Yes Professor," both boys answered together, though Neville's reply sounded much more timid and his face was flushed with embarrassment. He was already on detention for messing up royally in potion's class and he could not afford to mess up while on detention for messing up. Snape would be even more unbearable.
"And when you're finished," the Professor added, "gather as many tube worms as the jars will hold, they shouldn't be too hard to find."
"Yes Professor," came the less than enthusiastic stereo reply.
Just as they were about to move apart and collect their respective ingredients, a mournful shriek erupted from a bramble bush next to Neville. The poor boy nearly jumped clear out of his skin, he dropped his oil lamp and failed miserably in preventing a high-pitched scream from escaping his lips.
When they came to their senses, Harry and Neville quickly reached into their robes and pulled out their wands in an effort to defend themselves.
"Don't...move," came the fierce warning, "it is merely an Augurey."
Both students turned to their teacher, hoping to find some sort of assurance that their lives were not in danger.
"Look," he instructed them, pointing to the thick, thorny bush.
As they re-directed their gazes once more, both watched wide-eyed as a large yet thin and sorrowful looking bird emerged from the tangled chaos. It resembled some sort of ugly vulture and was covered in green and oily black feathers and had the most enormous and lethal looking talons. It warily eyed the three intruders then shrieked eerily once more before it unfurled it's impressive wing span and after three flaps, was soon airborne.
Small sighs of relief followed the bird's departure and both students returned their wands to the inner folds of their cloaks. Neville bent down to retrieve his now extinguished light source. Swallowing deeply, he nervously looked to his potion's professor. Snape, however remained mercifully silent even though his displeasure was clearly shown on his stern face. With a slight gesture he reignited Longbottom's lamp.
"What an nasty looking vulture," Harry pointed out to no one in particular.
"That was not a vulture Mr. Potter," Snape caustically informed him, "an Augurey is a type of Phoenix native to Ireland but is also found in Britain, don't be so quick to judge something by appearance alone," and with that parting comment he made his way over to the fallen tree trunk.
Both boys just looked to one another and shrugged, Harry was forced to rid his glasses once again of rain drops as the its intensity seemed to have increased again, then they moved apart a little more cautiously this time and set about completing their tasks.
Once Severus reached the decaying wood, he hunched down and pried a large piece free, sure enough the area was soon littered with disturbed black beetles scurrying to safety.
He reached inside his own voluminous black cloak and retrieved his wand and a glass specimen jar.
"Petrificus Totalus," he commanded and watched as dozens of the little insects suddenly seemed frozen to the spot.
Taking advantage of their immobilised state, he opened the jar and began picking up the beetles and dropping them into the jar. It was a mundane task but he found it strangely relaxing, he could almost imagine he were out here blissfully alone. Soon the jar was almost full so he tightened the lid and restedit on the remaining stump.
He was about to gather some flux weed when he felt an unmistakable burning tingle in his left fore arm. He clutched the limb as a gasp of dread escaped him.
'Merlin... no,' he thought before a dozen horrible outcomes raced through his mind.
There were Death Eaters approaching.
He spun around quickly, causing his flowing cloak to knock the delicate glass jar from the tree stump. The sound of shattering glass grabbed both Harry's and Neville's attention and they too quickly turned towards their teacher to see what was wrong.
Snape's panic rose, the boys were too far away, he would not be able to reach them in time to apparate. He quickly extinguished their lamps and the last thing that the boys saw before Snape's hushed 'nox', horrified them to the core.
Fear...the utter alien look of fear in the Potion Master's obsidian eyes.
"Run !" he ordered.
But it was already too late.
oOoOoOo
Author's note ; Many thanks to everyone who has already shown an interest in this little story, it does help the confidence a bit ! Cheers ! Apologies again to any canon purists out there for any errors that and I think I'm going to have to slap an 'AU' warning on this too as it looks like I'll be 'altering' some canon plot lines fairly soon, hope this won't drive you all away !
Nasty things planned for poor Severus in chp.3 Mubuwahahahaha !
Lai.