Snape set the muddy cloth upon the countertop. He did not speak a word, as he silently excused himself from the kitchen. He walked to the storage cupboard in the hallway where all of the potions sat organized upon many shelves.

His hands skimmed the labels containing liquid with a variety of colors, careful to not bump the glass causing one to fall. Once he found what he sought for, Snape removed a couple phials containing Essense of Dittany.

While Snape was gone, Harry took the time to carefully remove both of his soaking wet shoes. His pant legs had nearly dried from the heat in the home. His aching old skin welcomed the flood of heat from the air surrounding them.

Just as silent as he had left, Snape appeared again next to Harry's side, and motioned for Harry to remove the saturated cloth upon his wound.

Tipping the vile just slightly enough, a trickle of the potion ran down Harry's neck. His blood stained neck flexed from response to the sting, but immediately the cut ceased it's bleeding. The wound healed itself, appearing as if it were several days old. Snape eyed the rest of Harry's visible body, looking for further signs of damage.

Another bout of small cuts were on his arm, where the falcon had blocked the spell he tried to use on Kirnap. The wound was the same as his neck had been, freely bleeding. Snape lifted Harry's arm and poured the contents of the Dittany, reducing the scratches to mere scars.

Snape's eyes met with the wrist upon the other arm. Harry's wrist was obviously wounded, but healing it would need to be attended to later. Harry's bottom lip was also slightly swollen from when his tooth bit into it. Snape motioned that he was going to touch the lip, and slowly brought his hand to inspect it.

"Did he punch you?" His breath softly touched the younger man's face.

Harry waited for Snape's hand to move away before replying, "No, I bit my lip when I fell."

"Perhaps you won't bite it for some time then," he silently mumbled.

Harry eyed the man, not sure he had even heard him correctly. Eventually, he said, "Snape, I need to go get my wand now. When the Ministry gets here I will ask them to assist me. He will not attack me with chance from being caught again. Please, understand."

Snape sighed then nodded. "That would be wise. Despite my efforts to keep your name from their file… it will be in vain."

"I'll make sure they don't say anything to the Prophet. Trust me, Hermione will keep sure of that." Harry dared his lips to toy with a grin, before the pain reminded him to take it easy.

"Very well." Snape leaned back against the counter. "I sent the Ministry a Potronous from the border of the woods. It should not be long for them to look for us here, unless they caught Kirnap, which will be a surprise…"

Harry suddenly remembered the wolf he had seen in the woods. "Snape, I saw something in the woods. It was a wolf, but it wasn't Kirnap. I think… Kirnap has a wolf working with him."

"Why do you think it would be working with him?"

"Because wolves, they usually run from people unless they have to defend themselves. This one… it was going to attack me. But Kirnap got to me right before it, and I didn't see it after that. I think it may have even tricked me so I would not see him coming."

Snape accepted what Harry said, and nodded in thought. "Hm. An interesting theory."

Before Snape could elaborate any farther, a knock from the door could be heard, then, "Severus Snape? Severus Snape are you in there?" The sound of Dawlish's voice was heard by both men all the way into the kitchen.

Without a word, Snape made his way through the entry way, and beyond Harry's sight. He heard Snape open the door and say, "Come inside."

"Thank you. It is quite cold out here, snow should be arriving any day now!"

Snape brushed off Dawlish's casual conversation. "I'm assuming you could not find him?"

"No. No trace. Where did you see him last?"

"Roughly one mile east from my home. He apparated before I could apprehend him. Come, and sit here."

"Thank you. We assumed so much. I regret to say we had not kept closer watch on him, and even more so regrettably that your file was not considered. Would have saved us time."

"Yes, that it would have." Harry could recognize the irritation in his voice. "I assume an action can now be taken?"

"I believe so, yes. Can you tell me what happened though? You called us to say, now… we may have mistook you, but he was engaged in a confrontation with Harry Potter?"

Against his will, Harry pushed himself from the counter and began what felt as a long journey to the room where the men sat.

"That is what I said. He is now resting-"

Harry made an appearance in the doorway, causing Severus to stop what he was saying.

"Harry Potter!" Dawlish rose from his seat and strode across the room to assist the man who looked as if he had been through a brawl. "Let me assist you."

"I'm alright, thank you." With his good hand, he denied the offer.

"Right then. Just a few bumps then? Nothing serious?"

"No, nothing like that. Just eh-"Harry motioned towards his head, "hit my head." He made his way over to the couch, opposite from where Snape sat.

"My dear, yes this does change things."

Harry couldn't help but notice Snape roll his eyes.

"Oh my, the Prophet will be all over this!"

"No, they won't be." Harry said sternly. "I won't allow it. Rita Skeeter will be getting a letter from me soon, and I promise she will take things lightly."

Dawlish scoffed and sat down upon the same couch as he spoke, "Rita Skeeter? Lightly? No. No. But tell me boy, tell me what happened to you? Your head is all banged up like that? Did you have your wand? Surely you should have stopped him!"

"He disarmed me."

Dawlish looked surprised at Harry's response. Another knock could be heard at the door. Snape rose to his feet and went to greet the new guest.

"Ah Severus! Is Dawlish here yet?"

"Yes, he arrived shortly ago."

"What luck? I just finished with the paperwork for it to be denied! And then this? This is what we need though."

"Mm. Come and sit."

Williamson and Snape appeared in the door way as they found their way to their seats. Harry sat between both Williamson and Dawlish on the couch. Williamson frowned towards Harry, then removed a quill and parchment from an inner pocket on his coat.

"Alright, let's make this quick so a file can be submitted today. Harry, tell us what happened?"

"Well, sir, I was attacked while in the forest. He-"

"In the forest?" Williamson inquired this with disbelief.

"Yes…"

"Now in what names were you doing in there? And Severus, your Patronus was sent from the border?"

Harry and Snape met eyes. "I uh… well… I was on a run."

"A run? Like Muggles do?" Dawlish eyed him peculiarly.

"Er… yes. Like Muggles."

"Huh. Very well then, now tell me, did he attack you with a wand, or as a wolf?"

"With a wand. I didn't see him as a wolf."

"Ohhkay." Dawlish scribbled what Harry said on the parchment.

"Did he say anything to you?"

"Yeah… he said um…" Harry began to run through the events which had only occurred a short time before. He recalled the sexual interest the man had inquired, but chose to not address that. He also remembered what had been said about Snape helping him in the past.

Unconsciously, thinking of this caused him to make eye contact with Snape from across the room. His dark form seated upon the armchair, was illuminated by the bright light behind him. Snape sat in the chair, his hand resting under his lip –like always when in deep thought.

Just as he thought he felt an odd tug on his mind, he also had been bumped by Dawlish who removed his gloves, causing their elbows to hit each other's. Harry brushed aside the familiar sensation upon his mind of an intrusion, and carried on with what he was going to say.

"Well he spoke of many things-"

"Anything about future plans specifically?"

"He spoke about one day, having an army of 'beasts'."

Williamson's eyes narrowed in fixation upon Harry's words. "Of wha- of beasts? And what kind did he say? Not Dragons I presume?"

"No, he didn't say but-"

"So then after that, he attacked and tried to kill you?"

"Yes."

"Odd," Dawlish's voice drawled out his question.

"Odd? How do you find this as 'odd'?" Snape asked.

"Kirnap was not a Death Eater, or a follower of Voldemort. Why would he want to kill Harry Potter?"

"As I spoke before, Kirnap Crowell is an opportunist. Perhaps killing Harry was a tempting challenge for him. As the saying goes, "wrong place at the wrong time"."

"Yes. You did say that during out meeting Severus." Williamson verified, glaring at Dawlish.

It came to Harry's attention, that Dawlish may have been hinting that Severus was a part of the attack in vengeance to The Dark Lord. The fact remained that Snape would never again be trusted by all.

"I saw another wolf in the forest." Harry spoke, trying to alleviate the tension which he felt arising between Dawlish and Williamson.

"A wolf?" Williamson asked, neither impressed nor unimpressed by the statement made.

"Yeah. It wasn't as big as Kirnap, but it was going to attack me."

"Hogwash. Natural wolves do not attack humans!" Dawlish said.

"I'm sure it would have. It was gearing up to lunge at me, until Kirnap attacked me from behind."

"I will uh…" Williamson shot a questioning look at Harry "-make a note of it."

Harry risked the privacy of his mind in order to look at Severus. The man was incredibly stable during this whole event, as if he had spent the last couple hours reading from his books. Snape caught Harry's green eyes with his own, forcing Harry to immediately look away, not wanting to invite Snape to a personal invasion.

"I think he is building an army from a creature within the forest", Harry suddenly spoke.

"What creature, exactly?" Williamson asked, raising his head from his notes in order to look at Harry.

"Well… of wolves." All eyes abruptly turned to Harry. "It's not that hard to assume. I saw one in the forest, blatantly going to attack me. I bet he found a way to communicate with them-"

"Harry, lad. I think you may have hit your head a bit hard, yeah?" Dawlish said, humor on the edge of his voice. "Severus, maybe this young man could use a potion for it-"

"I'm not making this up!" Harry's face flushed from irritation. "He said he was building an army of "beasts". Why could it not be wolves? His animagus is one!"

Silence fell between all men in the room.

"Harry. Why on Earth, would Kirnap build an army of wolves?" Dawlish scoffed. "There would be no sense in it! A Wizard would never be at a disadvantage."

Harry looked to Snape, seeking the man to defend his reasoning. It all made sense. But, the last of the information he would find out for himself once the Aurors left.

"I'm on Dawlish's side with this one. I don't see the use in having wolves on his side." Williamson said as he rolled the parchment and slipped it in his pocket. "Either way, this looks like a sure thing now. Are you two all right here?"

"We have no reason not to be, while inside this home." Severus said.

"Is there anything else we can do before we leave?"

Harry then remembered his wand. "Actually, yes. You see, I need something very important from my apartment right up the road. I can't go alone—"

"No, absolutely not by yourself," Williamson interrupted.

"So, is there any chance you would escort me? Snape doesn't feel it's a good idea to leave his home—"

"Sure, sure," he mumbled, agreeing with Snape's orders.

"So you'll come with?"

"I see no harm. Though I don't feel you are in your right state of mind to apparate, let alone travel. How about I come back tomorrow evening?"

Harry nodded, knowing he couldn't argue with fair reasoning.

"Alright. Very well then. We must be on our way now."

Both men nodded towards Severus who stood up to escort both men from his home.

Harry remained where he sat, frustrated with the results of the meeting. To begin with, as usual, no one believed him or even considered his allegations. Secondly, his wand was still far away. But alas, he would fetch it tomorrow with aid.

Snape interrupted Harry's thoughts when he appeared in the room again. He stood in front of Harry and with his outstretched hand, indicated for Harry to pick up the two phials.

"This one will mend minor injuries, while this will ease pain."

"Thank you."

Before Harry could reach out to grab them with his good hand, Snape withdrew them to uncork both of the phials. One at a time, he gave one to Harry instructing him to drink the full contents of each. The flavors were awful, but nothing in comparison to the pain he felt.

Snape withdrew himself after collecting the empty phials, and went to his bookshelf. Harry watched Snape consider a few. He finally removed one book. Harry caught the title labeled, "Literature: Greatest Poetry of All Time". Snape sat upon his single chair and opened the book.

"I didn't know you like to read poetry."

Without removing his eyes from the pages, he said, "I find it to be 'relieving'."

The potion had already worked its way through Harry's bloodstream, as the pain in his wrist dulled, as a tingling sens-ation took place of the pain.

The thought had never left the back of Harry's mind, taunting him to ask the question. It was not an easy one to ask, for he knew Snape already hid so much before, it would be so easy for him to lie, or get angry. But regardless, Snape knew more than what he was willing to admit.

"Professor Snape?"

Snape sighed from behind the pages of his book. "What thought has wedged its way into your mind?"

"Kirnap said something to me about your… um, it was something along the lines of—"

"I know what he asked."

"Oh, so you did intrude my mind then?" Harry knew he had recognized the familiar feeling of legilimency when he and Snape had met eyes earlier. The thought slightly annoyed him, as the intrusion was unnecessary. What did he expect to see anyways?

"One thing that has not changed. You still allow your mind to let its guard down."

Harry felt his cheeks flush.

Snape set the book down upon his lap, and sighed. To Harry's surprise, Snape began to speak openly. "Kirnap and I were very well acquainted for many years. There were times… Lily suspected my regards for him… but she never knew." Snape turned to look at his bookshelf. "One gift of Kirnap's is that he is highly skilled in legilimency."

"Could he…?"

"No. He is not quite as skilled at the Dark Lord was. He could not force you one to see things."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt… I just really disliked that feeling when my dreams had been taken over."

"Understandable." Snape looked Harry into the eyes. The flames from the fireplace danced upon the reflection of both their eyes. "We had made a deal once. In trade for teaching me legilimency, I taught Kirnap to brew a specific potion of my creations."

"A potion?"

"Yes. By far, one of the more skilled of my creations." Severus lost himself in thought for a brief moment as he recollected his memories. "By drinking the potion I created, he became more powerful while in his animagus form. To be frankly honest, he was a lousy wizard. Never could he perfect spells. But once… once he took a sip of the potion… he became someone new. He then had physical agility, strength and wit, once he drank what I called …lupusinvictum."

000ooo000ooo

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed my last chapter! I know this sounds narcissistic, but reviews do help me keep going because the feedback inspires me to write more! Sorry this chapter took so long to publish. I just finished my finals week and have to say I think I did pretty well. I have to admit that if this chapter was boring, it's because it was a "filler-chapter". Not a lot took place because other things needed to be done rather than skipping over them. So, with that said, I think the next chapter will be a bit more interesting. Second, I am pretty sure I am mostly without a beta again. The girl I was working with has become pretty busy which is understandable since she is in school. I have a hard time finding betas because a lot don't like to edit slash, as far as I have discovered. Please be patient with me as I will try and edit my chapters as well as I can.

Thank you, SkinnyGuuurl, 13AkiraKuranXIII and Lm Ryder The Batty Bat for your reviews!

Asphodel21 A kidnapping would have been really interesting for a turn in this story! Hm, I may consider this for a future event if it fits into place. I really wanted a dramatic scene in order to show Snape's concern for Harry. Thanks again for your feedback

AlexisGray941 Oh gosh I hate those little mistypes! I always look over them too lol. I love that you are so interested to read a chapter multiple times! Thanks for your feedback!

I hope to have a chapter posted sometime next week. Oh, I am getting my wisdom teeth removed this Thursday… but I suppose that shouldn't take away my ability to write more. Hope to see what you guys think!