Snape, the cat, woke early the next morning. He nudged his companion with his nose and – after the younger wizard had stretched extensively – made them hike to the next village before breakfast. It wouldn´t do them good to be nearby, if the muggle started a witchhunt.
He signalled the boy to transform and they walked into the village.
"Excuse me, Sir," the potions master asked the first person they met, an elderly muggle in a blue parka, "is there a bus from this village to the north?"
The muggle eyed the two wizards in their worn-out robes suspiciously. "The station is next to the church," he muttered. "You better hurry, the morning bus is due any minute."
With a quick word of thank-you, the two wizards took off towards the church at a run. They caught the bus just in time. The driver looked them up and down. "Where?" he asked.
"As far as this will take us," Snape produced the notes he had taken from the muggle the previous evening.
"Is the boy eighteen?" The driver asked.
"No, Sir, I´m not," Potter said politely. "Not even seventeen."
"Then you need only a children´s ticket. That will be Crask Inn for an adult and a child," said the driver after looking the price up in a table.
"Crask Inn is fine," said the potions master. He pocketed the change and the tickets. "How long will it take?"
"Two hours, ten minutes, according to the schedule, probably a bit longer in this weather."
Potter got them seats in the rear of the bus and as soon as the bus was on its way, he unpacked their breakfast. They shared their sandwiches in silence. There was only a small tin of apple juice to drink, but seemingly the murderous muggle hadn´t kept any better in her kitchen.
"How are you feeling today," Snape asked with concern after he had washed down the last of his meal. "No fever?"
"No, I´m fine, Uncle Toby. How far do we have to go from Crask Inn?"
"Not so far. Another week of hiking, I guess."
"One more week? That´s great." Potter entertained himself by looking out of the window for the rest of the ride. One could come to believe that the boy hadn´t travelled by bus before. Snape made a mental note to ask when they were alone. The boy had behaved like that on their last ride, too.
The journey to Crask Inn took nearly three hours due to heavy snowfall. When they got off the bus, the potions master led the way to a quiet side street with long, determined strides. As soon as they were away from muggle eyes, he transformed. They left the town heading east and followed what seemed to be a muggle tourist footpath, going by the many signs. They passed several small lakes until they found a bit of shelter between a wall of rock and a group of trees. There, Potter transformed.
"We´re going in the wrong direction," the boy pointed out. "We´re heading east."
"I know," replied Snape, leaning his back against the rock and wrapping his robes tightly around him. "We told the driver we were heading north. It´s safer to take a sidetrack."
"But this way we´ll take longer."
"I´d rather return safely on the tenth than be caught on the ninth day."
The boy bit his bottom lip. "I know, but I´m so tired and sometimes I think I can´t walk one day longer," he admitted softly.
"I´m tired, too," the potions master pointed out. "But we have to be careful. We are quite close. Only some days longer and we can rest."
The boy nodded.
"Come here, it´s cold." Snape held out an arm, offering warmth and shelter. The boy snuggled up to him without hesitation. Minutes later the youth was asleep, giving in to his exhaustion. Snape didn´t dare sleep. They couldn´t get caught by muggles again. The incident on Christmas day had been a close call.
The potions master´s thoughts wandered as he watched over the sleeping boy wonder. He looked down on the tousled head in his arms. If anybody had told him three months ago that Harry His-Father´s-Son Potter was going to sleep snuggled up to him willingly and that he, Severus Bane-Of-All-Gryffindors Snape, was not only going to allow the arrangement but offer it, he´d have called for a healer to examine the person´s mind. But here he was, holding the Golden Boy and feeling rather protective of him. If only Albus could see them. The old coot, who´d been pestering Snape about being too harsh with the boy, would be beside himself with joy.
Potter woke two hours later, but not one minute too early. Snape felt all stiff and if he had to sit one minute longer, some of his joints were going to suffer permanent damage. As soon as the boy had disentangled himself from Snape´s embrace, the potions master stood and stretched.
"Are we going on?" Potter asked, scrambling to his feet.
"No, we´ll wait for the snowfall to lessen or at least until it´s no longer that stormy. We´re at least safe from the worst cold here."
"Is that wise? We´re in the middle of nowhere."
"We may go hungry for a while if we stay, but if we go on in a snowstorm in these clothes, we´ll certainly catch a cold."
"I have a chocolate bar. We can share it," Potter offered.
"The old lady had a sweet tooth?"
The boy nodded. "I thought I´d keep it for the evening, in case we don´t find anything."
"That was good thinking. With your chocolate bar we can afford to stay until morning if need be."
They sat in silence for a while and Snape thought it would be a very awkward day unless one of them started a conversation.
"Who taught you how to bake scones, Jim?"
"My aunt."
"I never thought of you to be into cooking."
"I didn´t volunteer, exactly. It was obey or suffer the consequences."
"Consequences?" Snape asked with a foreboding of doom. He remembered the consequences his own father used to deal out when faced with disobedience only too well.
Potter didn´t answer for a while and the potions master was trying to determine how to word the question again. He didn´t want to seem prying, but he had to know.
"The cupboard." Potter´s voice was almost too soft to hear.
"The cupboard?"
"It was where I lived until I came to Hogwarts. The cupboard under the stairs. My uncle prefered to keep me there unless I was useful. Being useful included helping my aunt with the cooking." The boy´s voice was barely a whisper.
Snape gathered Potter closer protectively and the boy welcomed the warmth that was offered.
"I saw the cupboard during our lessons," the potions master said softly. "I thought it was one punishment. I didn´t realise it was where you lived or I´d have informed Dumbledore."
The boy snorted. "Dumbledore knows. My Hogwarts letter had the proper address. Harry Potter, Cupboard under the stairs."
"Sssshhh," Snape said soothingly. "No names, Jim."
"Sorry." The boy sounded bitter.
"I don´t think it´s dangerous to use them here, but we need to get..."
"...used to using Toby and Jim. I know." The boy yawned. "Is it okay if I sleep a bit?"
"Mmh."
The potions master guarded the boy´s sleep, deep in thought about how he had thought Potter was a pampered child.
-x-
The snowfall and wind weakened a bit during the night. As soon as the potions master considered the conditions good enough, they shared the chocolate bar and then hiked on. They couldn´t go as cats as the snow was too high on the path. Walking was difficult enough in human form. After a whole night of walking they reached the village of Syre.
"We have to be careful," said Snape. "We don´t know how big an area they´re surveilling and we´re quite close to Hogwarts. We can´t be seen in human form, neither by wizards nor by muggles. Cat form is the only safety we have."
"But with that much snow we can´t travel in catform," Potter pointed out.
"We have to walk by night and rest in catform by day. When we get closer to Hogwarts, we´ll have to stay in cat form for safety´s sake."
"Sounds like a plan. Now let´s see if we can get something to eat."
The potions master grabbed the boy´s shoulder before he could transform. "Kindly find someone of clear mind this time."
"I´ll do my best." Potter winked cheekily.
The boy´s best turned out to be a small inn. There were no guests that early, but the landlady – a slim brunette with kind brown eyes – was in and cleaning the tables. A delicious smell from the kitchen promised a stew for lunch.
Potter slid into the guest room and approached the woman carefully. Snape followed with even greater care. He tried to stay away far enough to run quickly if they had to, but also close enough to the boy to come to his aid if need be.
"Hello, beautiful," the landlady greeted Potter, the cat. "Where did you come from?"
"Miaow!"
"Can´t you find your way home? Poor dear!"
Potter rubbed his head against the lady´s calves as soon as he was sure she was friendly. He purred like a little motor.
"You know," the muggle bent down to scratch the cat´s head. "I have an idea. Most people from the village come here sooner or later. So you can just wait for your family here. What about it?"
The young wizard purred even louder. The woman wasn´t going to let him wait on an empty stomach. After he had allowed the muggle to pat his head for a while he slid towards the door where Snape was waiting and rubbed his head against the other cat. Snape took the hint and mirrored Potter´s behaviour, especially the purring.
The muggle watched the two cats delightedly.
"Angus!" she cried after a little while. "Angus, look how cute!"
Snape thought it was funny how he didn´t mind that word any longer if only he was fed.
Angus turned out to be a redhaired muggle with a flaming red moustache. "Cute, indeed," the large man agreed goodnaturedly.
"I thought we could keep them until their people take them home," suggested the lady. "It´s freezing cold outside and neither of the neighbours would thank us if we let their pets freeze."
"Whatever you say, Hun," Angus pecked the brunette on her cheek. "But they can´t come into the kitchen."
"Of course not," the lady slapped the redhead on the arm playfully. "What do you think of me! I´ll get them something out here."
Angus murmured something about preparing a bowl of scraps and trotted back to the kitchen. The woman closed the front door – "Enough fresh air." – and left through a door in the back. The two cats used the time to look for an escape in case they needed it, but their caution turned out to be to no purpose. The woman returned soon with a thick blanket, which she put into a back corner near the bar.
"Come here, kitty, kitty," she cried softly. She patted the soft fabric with her hand. When Potter approached her she stroked his fur twice. "Here. Make yourself comfortable. This is your space until your family gets you. – You too. Come here."
Snape allowed himself to be stroked, too, but only once. The muggle smiled at the two cats, before she continued her work. When was she going to feed them? The potions master certainly wasn´t going to complain about a clean, dry and warm place, but after their forced diet some milk would be nice. He´d even settle for muggle cat food from tins.
They had to wait for nearly an hour, but then the muggle provided a feast. They got a bowl of shepherd´s pie (cold and not very beautifully arranged, but delicious), some scraps of sausage (cold again) and a bowl of milk! The two wizards fell upon their meal as if they were starving, which was not too far from the truth.
After a rich meal – the landlady brought more milk after they had emptied the bowl – the two cats curled in balls on their blanket and slept the day away.
Snape woke when he was hit by a cold draught. Going by the dusky light outside it had to be quite late in the afternoon. More muggles were coming to the inn. Seemingly the first guests were arriving. Soon the parlour was filled with people. Most of them came for tea and some scones or sandwiches, some men ordered beer.
Potter took in the crowd for a while before he approached one of the tables. He rubbed his cheek on a kid´s leg and was rewarded with some scraps off the boy´s plate.
"Oi, Lily," cried the kid´s father merrily, "did you get yourself another pet? Didn´t you say the other day you wouldn´t after old Barky died?"
The landlady joined her guests. "They aren´t mine. They came in this morning and I let them stay until their people pick them up."
"They?" the boy asked curiously.
"They," the landlady, Lily – Snape took it as a good omen – , affirmed. "There are two. This big one and a smaller one. Where is he?" She bent down to scratch Potter´s ears and the cat leaned into the touch. Snape pawed closer on cue. "Ah, here." She scratched Snape´s ears, too, before she went back behind her counter.
The potions master took a leaf out of the younger wizard´s book and went to the muggles for food. Potter, he had to admit, was more skilled and got more to eat, but he, Snape, got his fill, too.
The two cats went from table to table. Angus – if it was him who did the cooking – was a good cook. Especially the shepherd´s pie was delicious and Potter spent most of the time with people who had ordered it. When they both had had enough, Snape signalled the boy and they slipped outside when another muggle entered the inn.
They trotted through the village and then turned north. Time to be back on track towards Hogwarts. When the muggle village had disappeared behind a hill, the potions master transformed and Potter followed his lead.
"Listen, Jim," the older wizard said seriously, "we do not know how big an area the deatheaters are guarding. We do know that they´re waiting for us near the school to get us when we try to enter the grounds. Our advantage – the only one we have – is that they have no idea about us being animagi. So we´ll walk a bit in human form this night, but after we transformed in the morning we won´t resume human form unless in case of emergency or on Hogwarts grounds."
"Do you mean after this night we´ll travel in cat form? In this snow? Toby, it´s higher than any of us in cat form!"
"We might be a bit slower, but it´s safer."
The boy seemed determined to cover as much distance as possible on his legs as long as he had the opportunity to use them. He hurried along the path in long strides and sometimes Snape had difficulties not to fall behind. When dawn showed itself on the horizon, they went as near to the next village as they dared and resumed cat form.
Potter, the boy, had managed to maintain an image of strenght, but Potter, the cat, couldn´t. It was obvious that the young wizard was dead tired. He didn´t even try to get into a muggle house, but instead went straight to the stable of a farm at the edge of the village. There, the boy hunted down a mouse without much ado and ate it. If Snape hadn´t been aware how much the boy hated the small rodents, the butt-wiggling going with the hunt would have been endearing. As it was, he was aware how tired and desperate the boy must be to settle with a mouse for a meal without complaint.
Snape followed his companion´s lead and helped himself to a mouse, too. Little later, both cats were asleep in the hay.