I forgot sneaky and conniving, lol
Surprise, two posts in one day.
Wonderful chapter 21
Hagrid's Place
The time that Severus spent unselfconsciously playing with Sharppie was all too short. Ten or so minutes after they had started to chase each other back and forth, another unicorn, this one black in color stood at the edge of the forest. Kettleburn saw him first. "Ah, it looks as if Stormcrow has come to collect his family." As if on cue, Windwillow stood and pushed Sharppie away from the little wizard, towards the forest. "Perhaps we'll get to see them again sometime later this year."
Sev was a bit disappointed. He wouldn't be there sometime later this year. He called after the tiny unicorn, "Bye Sharppie." Sharppie gave a nod of acknowledgement to the boy.
Hagrid called after Severus, "I'll show you some other magical creatures back o'er at my cabin." He added, "If any of you others would like to see, you can come along. Unless you have classes that is."
A group of about ten walked over to Hagrid showing their interest in seeing some of the other animals in their spare time. They and Severus followed the large man back across the hills to his cabin. The inside of the cabin was not too tidy. In every corner of it there was something; if not an animal itself, there were all kinds of eggs, things to care or, feed the animals. Unknown to the children, thankfully, some of the animals were to be fed the other ones. Snape was immediately interested in something that looked familiar. He saw a ferret sleeping next to Hagrid's fireplace. It was a lot bigger than Mrs. Tangles' Ferris. Four times as bigger to be exact. Snape sat on the hearth and watched it sleep while the other children were looking at something Hagrid was talking about.
As if it knew she knew she was being watched, what Severus believed to be an ordinary ferret, opened an eye. Then she opened the other. To Severus' surprise and shock, she actually spoke. Not like how Ferris did inside of his mind, but out loud. "What are you looking at you shit-faced gob?"
"I beg your pardon," a shocked Sev intoned.
"You heard what I said you snot nosed little bleep."
"You're not very nice."
"And you're a bleepitty bleeping bleep."
This last statement made Severus run strait to Hagrid and tell him, "Your ferret is swearing at me."
"My ferret?" Hagrid seemed confused. He looked over to where Sev had run from. "Oh, you mean Jarvina. She's not a ferret."
"Course not," Jarvina exclaimed. "Little bleep doesn't know the difference between a ferret and a jarvey."
"Jarvey?" Sev wondered out loud, "What's a jarvey?"
"I am little shit head."
"You best go outside Jarvina," Hagrid ordered. "Seeing as there's an awful lot of little ears in here."
As she climbed out of the window Jarvina added, "Lot of little bleeps you mean."
"Sorry bout that children." Hagrid was clearly embarrassed. It was normal behavior for a Jarvis to speak rudely. "Just forget what you've heard." It was unlikely Severus would forget them. His father would repeat them on a regular basis. Hagrid's eyes landed on something he thought some of the children might be interested in. "As some of you are Slytherin - - " At this word Severus became acutely interested in what Hagrid was saying. " - - You might like to see the mokes."
"The what?"
"Mokes." Hagrid pulled out a basket with a latched cover. "They're sleeping now, but I'll let you see them." He unlatched the hook that held down the cover. Inside the basket there were about fifteen green and sliver lizards. "See they're your house colors." The three Slytherin were keen to take a closer look.
One asked, "Are they dangerous?"
"Fraid not," Hagrid admitted.
"Then what do they do?"
"Well - - " Hagrid looked around till he found Severus. "If Sev'rus will pick one up, you'll see."
"Me?" Severus questioned.
"Seeing as you're our guest today."
Severus went over to the basket. He looked unsure. "They aren't going to bite me, are they?"
"You're a suspicious little one aren't you?"
"That's not an answer."
"Clever too. No they won't bite you."
A tiny hand reached into the basket and picked one of the silver-green lizards up. Straight away the half a foot long moke shrank to half its size. It made the little wizard drop it."
"That's what mokes do."
"Shrink if you touch them?" A Gryffindor boy said. "Just like a real Slytherin?" The non-Slytherins all got a good laugh out of that.
"Now, none of that here," Hagrid stopped the fight before it started. "You should be getting along with each other. Now if you can behave, each of you can pick up a moke. Just don't go losing them." The children all picked up one of the mokes when they shrank these older kids did not drop them. They sat in different places and played with them. Hagrid noticed that Severus had not picked up a moke again. He was looking cross at the boy who had made the crack about Slytherins. Hagrid took Snape to a quiet corner of the cabin to ask him, "What's that look for?"
"Why did those other kids laugh at what that boy said?"
"There's always been a bit of rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin, but it's been getting worse lately."
"Why?"
"I suspect it has a lot to do with you know who."
"No I don't know who."
Hagrid shook his head and blinked. "No you wouldn't. You're too young to know about that."
"About what?"
"Never you mind. The less you know about you know who the better."
tbc
