Disclaimer: Characters and settings belong to JKR and Warner.

A/N: This story is AU from the end of book 5 on. But a few spoilers for book 6 might come through by accident.

ooOOoo

Chapter 58: Dark Horse

Instead of going back to the Hall for lunch, Harry wandered through the corridors, occasionally checking outside the windows to see if it had suddenly clouded over in case he had to shoot back up to the paddock to put the cover on Simon, letting his feet take him where they would, until he found himself in a dusty, disused corridor, staring at a locked door.

Snuffles made an inquiring whine.

Harry looked down, surprised. He'd almost forgotten about his shadow. There was a noise like someone taking a breath and then Sirius was standing next to him. Harry glared at him, but Sirius didn't try opening the door.

"You're taking a risk, aren't you?"

Sirius shrugged. "You've been quiet long enough." He tilted his head, just like Snuffles did when he heard a strange noise. "So this was Sn-ape's secret room."

"Mm." This was the first time Harry had spoken with Sirius since before they'd gone out to get the mistletoe, he realised. And just how much had Sirius remembered after seeing the Sickle?

"Where he took you after you fell back through time."

"Yes."

"And helped keep you safe from assorted idiots in the castle."

Harry wasn't sure how he should respond to that. Sirius had said it as if commenting on the weather.

He pressed his hand to the door, testing the wards. They seemed to remember him – before he quite knew what he was doing, Harry had spoken the password and the door was swinging open with only the faintest creak from hinges which hadn't been oiled in over twenty years.

He stepped inside.

After a pause so short it was barely a pause, he felt Sirius move up behind him.

The room seemed smaller than Harry remembered. A couple of blankets were folded, gathering dust in opposite corners. And there was the box. It made a little jiggling motion, as if it were a dog someone had left behind and now it was relieved to be found again. Harry patted it sympathetically – he had the impression that if it had a tail, it would be wagging furiously now. A small sketch pad had been left on the box. Harry picked it up and found that it hadn't yellowed too badly around the edges, even though it was Muggle paper.

He leafed through a few pages, pausing at one of himself – obviously a test sketch, before Severus had done the one he'd put the disguise spell into, because it was rough and didn't even show Harry's scar. Apart from the nose it looked like James. Harry turned the page quickly.

There was the badger. It had been quickly done, Harry remembered, but it was rendered so beautifully Harry half expected it to bumble snuffling and growling off the page. And there was a quick sketch of a horse's head, a little bit like Simon although somewhat more chunky than the thoroughbred was in real life. Harry still had the sketch Severus had done of Simon; he'd tucked it away in his trunk where no-one would ask questions.

"I didn't know he could draw."

Harry jumped. He'd almost forgotten he wasn't alone.

"I thought I saw a badger…" Sirius tried to take the pad, but dropped his hand when Harry moved it out of immediate reach.

"Yeah, maybe…"

"That badger – I remember it, now… I've still got the scars in my cheek. Was that a spell of some sort?"

"Er, sort of…" Harry wasn't sure he wanted to give away Severus' secrets – not this one, certainly.

Sirius laughed humourlessly. "Yeah, I remember the badger, all right…"

Harry snapped the pad shut. He didn't want to be reminded of that incident… but Sirius was nodding as more memory apparently came back.

"It bit me. And you – you had your wand at my throat and you said… Harry, would you really have…? Not over a spell-creature Snape made…" His eyes narrowed at the window. "Bloody hell. Damn it to… That was Snape, wasn't it? The badger, that is."

Harry scowled down at the closed sketchpad, his hand resting on the black cover hiding what should have remained secret, and didn't reply.

Sirius shook his head, taking Harry's silence for assent. "Snape was an Animagus? Now that I don't believe."

"He wasn't. He… there was some weird stuff we encountered in Hufflepuff's glasshouse. It turned him into a badger."

Sirius showed his teeth. It wasn't a smile. Harry looked away at the flash of something that might have been fury or bright pain crossing his godfather's ravaged face. "A badger with artistic pretensions. Well, well. Our Snape certainly was a dark horse."

Something went click in Harry's brain.

"Oh my God."

"What?"

"Oh. My. God. I'm so stupid. I am so, so stupid that there's a picture of me in the dictionary under 'stupid'! It's been right in front of me all the time and I didn't see it!"

"Er, Harry…?"

Harry spun to face Sirius. Sirius backed up a step at the expression on Harry's face. "A dark horse! Snape was a dark horse. Snape is a dark horse, Sirius! Snape is Simon!"

Sirius' forehead creased. "Harry…"

"No, listen, it all makes sense!" Harry looked into the corridor to make sure no-one had followed before he shut the door and cast the soundproofing charm. He paused to gather his thoughts.

"Right… start at the beginning… There was the battle as Voldemort finished putting the barrier together. Snape died – that's what we were told. But no-one ever found a body."

"Malfoy said –"

"I know what Lucius Malfoy thought happened – Draco told me. Lucius thought he killed Snape. But what if he didn't? What if he hit him with a spell that caused Snape to metamorphose into an alternate shape that could diffuse the hexes?"

"Like I did when dearest darling Bella smacked me with a heartcore curse? But that was because I was an Animagus and changing into a dog is second nature – literally – for me… don't tell me Snape went around giving pony rides to his students on the weekends!"

Harry ignored that last acid comment. "He had an alternate shape. Like you. And he took it when Malfoy – Lucius, that is – blasted him. But something must have gone wrong. Snape lost his memory; he thought he really was a horse. And then Draco and I found hi- he found us. And had just enough memory to help us get back to Hogwarts and protect us from the Acromantulas. Remember how he reacted to Remus?"

"Many animals react to Remus in werewolf form like that – some even when he's not in werewolf form, either. It's just one reason why he'll never be given Hagrid's job."

"What if it's more? Snape loathed werewolves. Then Hagrid and I managed to pen him, and Luna –"

"Why would he respond to Luna so well? That makes no sense."

Harry considered this. "She's confident around horses. He must have relaxed at finally having someone around who knew what she was doing."

"She was doing really advanced dressage moves on him. You're not saying Severus Snape, Potions master and git extraordinaire, goes off in his free time to horse obedience classes?"

"Leave that for now. Here's the evidence…" Harry ticked it off on his fingers "… Simon appears when Snape disappears. Simon has a charm in his chest –"

"A tracking charm from his owner."

"– a charm for changing shape. Simon gets upset at the sight of Neville near a cauldron –"

"I get upset at the sight of Neville near a cauldron! People in Outer Mongolia get upset at the sight of Neville near a cauldron!"

"– Simon knew where the centre of the glasshouse world was. Simon bites people when they annoy him – Snape got sarky or maybe threw things… no, don't ask, that's another story… Simon likes Dumbledore and Flitwick and the Slytherins. He's indifferent to anyone else."

"Simon adores you. That's not exactly Cuddly Snapey we all know and remember."

"He's had his memory wiped. But the clincher is that when I was back in time I told Severus about Simon and he was surprised – strangely surprised, I thought at the time – and he asked me if I was sure Snape from my time, er, dimension was dead. Isn't that weird?"

"No. I'd ask the same question." Sirius looked close to a stroke when Harry had said 'Severus'.

"And then he drew a picture of Simon – I've got it in my trunk – and it's the spitting image of Simon, right down to the nose and the attitude. Severus said he just drew a generic black thoroughbred, but I don't believe that… not with what other evidence is out there…"

"Thin evidence."

"I think Luna knows more than she's told anyone," Harry went on excitedly, ignoring this last bit. "Except Dumbledore. I reckon he's in on the secret, too. Luna telling him Simon's mane is getting oily… which it is, and there's another sign… and Dumbledore looking like she'd just told him Christmas was going to be twice this year."

"I get oily hair when I've been a dog for a while and not had a bath. Horses also have oil in their coats to protect them from the weather – it's perfectly natural mammalian biology."

"But Luna's really intense about it. She… she probably plaited Simon up with Hello Kitty stuff just to embarrass him into changing back into Snape. It should have done the trick… that must have been what that odd conversation she was having with the headmaster was about, when Dumbledore said horses could be vain and wouldn't like their manes to go pink… Oh, Merlin… Snape's going to kill her if he remembers that crack about strutting his stuff at a stallion parade…"

Sirius' face grimaced for a split second, as if he was trying not to smile. "Luna's really intense about the Martian Space Bunny Colony. It doesn't mean there really is such a thing."

"Okay. Fair call. But why would Dumbledore get so interested in it?"

"Dumbledore is a kindred spirit to Luna. He's also probably humouring her. I know I would in his place… were I a kinder person."

"Dumbledore knows he's Snape. He all but admitted it."

"If Simon was Snape, Dumbledore would have made him change back."

"Maybe he can't."

"He's the greatest wizard of the age and you think we can succeed where he failed? Come on, Harry…"

"Okay, then maybe he didn't want Snape to change back immediately or something like that… he said that Simon's having a nice holiday…"

Sirius shook his head impatiently. "Dumbledore would have changed him back."

"I hate to break it to you like this, but Dumbledore does some pretty weird stuff. Leaving a member of staff as a horse for a few months wouldn't be unusual by his standards. For all we know he's done it before…"

"Harry. Dumbledore wouldn't leave even Snape as a horse. Simon is Simon."

"He's Snape," Harry insisted doggedly.

"So prove it."

"Okay, I will. Come on. This time we're going to look at the charm in his chest… carefully. Without alarming him in any way."

"And if it is him?"

"Then we change him back. We can use the Sickle if we have to – it's about truth. And Simon's not truly Simon… he's Snape."

Sirius put a hand on Harry's chest before Harry could open the door. "Change him back," he said flatly. "Change Simon into Snape. Have you actually considered what you'd be losing? Because there's no way you can win if Simon is Snape and you change him back."

"You were just saying there's no way he's Snape!"

Sirius sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. "I've been spectacularly wrong before," he muttered. "And you've been hurt. I don't want to be wrong now – because if I am then you're going to be hurt again."

"Sirius… I'm going to do this with or without you. I'd rather it was with, because you're an expert on Transfigurations. And transformation charms – Snape was working on a charm to run along the lines of the Animagus transfiguration."

"Snivellus was hopeless at Charms."

Harry glowered. "His si-" he caught himself; he'd already betrayed Severus' confidence enough today. Simply bringing Sirius in this room and letting him learn about the sketch pad and the true nature of the badger was bad enough "…he wasn't that bad. And stop calling him Snivellus. Certainly not here."

Sirius snarled silently and glared around the small room as if it offended him on some bone-deep level. His face was still flushed and he took several deep breaths before he rasped quietly, "I'll need your Invisibility Cloak. And you're not to do this until after class has finished today. You've missed too many classes, and if McGonagall thinks I'm encouraging you she'll have words with both of us."

Harry nodded. His throat stuck before he could say thanks. He nodded again.

"Good. Now go and get your books. You're going to be late for class as it is."

Harry replaced the sketchpad on the box and took a last look around at the little room. There was a faint inhalation noise and a black dog stood in the place of Sirius. It looked up at Harry then jerked its nose towards the door in an unmistakable hint.

The box jiggled sadly as they left then, getting no attention, sighed to itself as the door closed behind them. The lock clicked as the lid lifted slightly and the box yawned carefully, not letting the sketchpad slide off. With another small sigh the lid closed again and relocked itself.

ooOOoo

Harry wasn't late, but it was a near thing. Transfiguration class had performed some brand of temporal magic, it seemed, slowing time itself from two periods into an epoch. Harry couldn't concentrate through any of it and hoped vaguely he'd be allowed to take advantage of Hermione's notes afterwards. Hermione was trying to tell him something about Luna getting a key made from magic which needed to be held literally in the palm of someone's hand, but Harry wasn't really listening. Then McGonagall got cross with Ron for whispering to Harry when Ron wanted to know if there was something wrong with Harry – he looked like he'd taken another Bludger to the head and Ron wanted to know if Harry was all right, especially after the fiasco in Potions – but Harry wasn't listening to Ron, either. It was just lucky Sirius had already taught him the spell for turning wombats into Beaters' bats, or Harry would have been in real trouble for not listening to McGonagall. As it was, she took a point off because his bat had whiskers and the emblem of the Australian team on the handle. (She might not have taken that point if Scotland hadn't been creamed in the last pre-barrier Quidditch match by Australia.)

Harry didn't care. He didn't even care when he nearly got a detention after he spent half the time looking out the window, telling himself he was doing the right thing.

He'd always known he wouldn't be allowed to keep Simon.

ooOOoo

Snuffles was familiar to the residents of Hogwarts, but even so the sight of the big black dog following Harry up to his dormitory after classes finished for the day caused a ripple of comment from those who were still dropping their books back before going down for dinner. Harry paid no attention to them.

He dug the cloak out of his trunk and found the sketch of Simon. "See?" he whispered to Snuffles as he thrust it in front of the dog's nose. But Snuffles snorted in a canine way that suggested the Animagus thought Harry was reading far too much into a pencil sketch, however well executed. Harry looked at it in grim satisfaction and with that golden feeling of Doing the Right Thing glowing in his chest. It was a shame the way the dark, leaden knowledge of how No Good Deed Goes Unpunished was squashing the glow. He refolded the picture and replaced it carefully in his trunk, knowing that if everything went right it might be the only picture he had of Simon, and led Snuffles down the stairs, out of the castle, and up to the paddock.

It hadn't rained. Not yet, although thunder still growled along the horizon. Simon wasn't displeased to have Harry visit twice in one afternoon. He walked down the hill to meet him and whickered softly as Harry opened the gate. Harry received a nudge to his knee. It was Snuffles, trying to hint that Snape wouldn't in a million years be so happy to see Harry.

Harry sighed. "He's lost his memory. I told you that already. And he hasn't kicked you over the moon – that's got to be a hell of a bad amnesia."

He patted the horse on the neck a little self-consciously, given that this might be Snape, and noted with a sigh that all the bobbles which had been there when he left were still there, carrying their little Yo Leo characters in proud Gryffindor red and gold.

"Maybe it's best if we get these out before we try anything… Snape'll go ballistic if he changes back with his hair in plaits."

There was a snigger from knee level.

Harry's mouth twitched at the image of Snape taking Potions with his hair bundled up in little plaits. He turned away so Simon didn't see him smile. Just in case. He clipped the leadrope on Simon's headcollar and led the horse into the little stable, pausing at the door to cast a perimeter charm on the fence that would alert him if anyone came into the paddock.

It was dim inside the stable. The low clouds soaked up the evening light and didn't leave much left over to show the outline of a black horse and a black dog inside an unlit shed. Even so, Harry didn't want to risk anyone coming up and seeing Sirius. "Here's the cloak." He passed it to Sirius, who changed back into human form.

Simon pricked up his ears, but otherwise seemed fairly unconcerned these days about Sirius' transformations.

Sirius slung the cloak over his shoulder. Simon boggled at the floating head, but then when a hand became visible and patted him on the nose, he seemed to accept it as normal. "Hello, Simon. We've come for Harry to prove you're a nasty greasy git of the old school, while I, your supporter, maintain you are a fine horse and not some variety of reject Death Eater."

Simon snuffled at his sleeve.

Looking triumphant, Sirius patted the horse's nose. "There. Snape would have turned back just for the chance to punch me in the mouth. Or stood on my foot at the very least."

Harry rolled his eyes. "He's lost his memory. How many times do I have to tell you?"

Sirius regarded him levelly, hand resting on Simon's nose. "And if you turn this poor, relatively blameless beast into Snape, what then? He's going to get his memory back. And you don't seriously think Snape is going to be your friend? You'd sacrifice your friend Simon – who seems rather happy as a horse, far happier in fact than I've ever known Snape to be when he wasn't torturing something – you'd turn Simon who is so fond of you he'd jump into a weird dimension to save your life into Snape, who wouldn't pi- er, spit on you if you were on fire?"

"Severus went into a weird dimension with me. He was the one who found the Golden Sickle. For me. Because he was my friend."

"Merlin's balls. Maybe you remember Severus 'Death to all Potters' Snape a little differently from the rest of the world, because –"

"I remember Snape just fine. And yeah, he hated me almost as much as I hated him. Maybe a little more… we never stopped to compare notes. But he tried to stop Quirrell from killing me during Quidditch that time. And when Fake Moody was going to kill me, it was him and McGonagall who came with Dumbledore… And I'll show him the Sickle and he'll remember –"

"What? How he hated you before Dumbledore crocheted booties with our memories using the Sickle he helped you get when you pretended not to be James' son? And don't mistake anything he might have done to keep you safe in the past as friendship when you know damn well it was his duty as a teacher… and what he owed James – well, what he thought he owed James – for saving his life… and before you ask me if I regret what I did the night of the Shrieking Shack, let me tell you I do. No more now I have my memory back than I did while I thought it was James rather than you I nearly got killed."

Sirius broke off as Simon's ears went back.

"Merlin – that evil glint in his eyes is pure Snape," Sirius continued in a quieter voice. "You used to see that all the time. But Simon spends half his time dozing. He's the most relaxed creature at Hogwarts. Apart from Crookshanks, of course." He ran a hand down the long nose and Simon's ears resumed a friendlier angle.

Harry hung his head, scuffing the thin layer of straw with the toe of his sneaker. "I still have to try. Dumbledore would want him back, even if nobody else does."

Sirius was still stroking the horse's nose. "Just keep in mind that you're going to get Snape back. If this poor horse really is him, of course, and I feel like I'm committing a gross slander on Simon just by entertaining the suggestion. Poor beast. Simon, you're a fine horse, even if you keep trying to kick me. I think you're a champion just for the way you brought Harry back last night. And if I thought for one second you really were Snape, there's no way I'd be touching you."

Simon yawned.

Sirius' mouth twitched. "Still, if this is Snape, I'll be dining out on his humiliation for years to come. The rest of my life, perhaps. Any time he gets snide at me, I can just remind him how much he likes having his ears rubbed." He drew his free hand along one of the neat ears under discussion and Simon's eyes half-shut in bliss.

Harry shook his head. "I knew this was going to be a mistake. He's got exactly the same expression as you get when you've got your head in Luna's lap… that's going to stop, by the way."

"All right… but she knows just the right spots to rub."

"She doesn't know you're an Animagus or you'd get your nose whacked. You don't see some sort of hypocrisy in laughing at Snape for having his ears rubbed when you, with your intact memory, deliberately seek out other people's girlfriends to rub your ears for you?"

"I stand firm in my rejection of the charge of hypocrisy. Or I refuse to submit myself to the degree of personal introspection which would allow me to acknowledge the truth of such a charge. Hmm. You know, Luna's going to be upset to lose Simon. Malfoy, too. They won't be best pleased with you over this."

Harry nodded. "But I think Luna knows Dumbledore wants Simon – er, Snape back. Maybe he sent her out there right at the beginning because he knew she'd be the best one to look after a horse. He seems to know her quite well. And you're not telling me Malfoy wouldn't be ecstatic to have his Head of House back… he's the whole reason I got mixed up with Simon in the first place, because he went out looking for Snape after the battle…"

"True, true. But I'm only saying they're going to miss Simon. As will you. I just want you to go into this with your eyes open."

"Why are you telling me this when you don't even think he's Snape?"

"Because you need to think things through. Consequences matter."

"Is this the voice of experience?" Harry asked cuttingly.

"Yes," Sirius replied mildly, "it is." He was still stroking Simon's ears. Simon seemed almost asleep now. Sirius stepped back. "Well, let's get on with this. Where's the charm?"

"In his chest. Can you feel it?"

Sirius crouched down and placed his hand between Simon's forelegs. "No… oh, yes. I think that's it… How strange." The floating head lurched and Sirius caught his balance by grabbing Simon's front leg. Simon sniffed his hair. Sirius chuckled and pushed the horse's nose away. "Oh, for… fond memories though I have of this cloak, it's a real sod to do magic with it getting under your feet. How good is the perimeter spell you put up?"

"Hermione taught it to me."

"Excellent, then. Here."

Harry took the cloak and frowned. "Are you sure?"

"I was standing on it. I don't want to wreck James' cloak." His mouth set in a firm line. Harry decided not to argue, but Sirius wasn't concentrating on him, anyway. Harry wadded the cloak and tucked it away in his robes as Sirius asked, "Can I borrow your wand? Preferably without letting Simon see you give it to me… thanks. He doesn't like people holding wands, does he? Good boy, Simon… Well now, that is strange… Harry, I think you're on to something. It's certainly not a tracking charm. And it's not quite stable. Here – I'll highlight it for you…" The wand twitched, as did Simon, and there was suddenly a thin yellow light emanating from Simon's chest. Grey-black lines in shades of graphite curved through it. "It's very strange. I don't believe I've ever seen a spell like it. It looks very much like a snap-back point charm – a spell to return something to its rightful state. I think I've found the trigger… you see that little whirly sparkly thing off to the right?"

"Maybe…" If he squinted carefully, it was as if he could see into Simon's chest. Harry could see something that wasn't yellow or grey-black, but it looked like a pale, amorphous light more than anything. It spun like a top. It didn't seem to sparkle, but then Harry supposed Sirius was more experienced at seeing these things.

"You know, I reckon that if I hit that whirly sparkly thing at just the right angle with a variation on the simple stop, it should send the charm around the other way. The negative spin should cancel out the wobble in the resonance on the sine of the spell…"

"Like with prior incantation?" Harry never would have made the connection if Sirius hadn't pointed it out: now it looked the most obvious thing in the world.

"It's a very similar principle. There's an arithmantic balance for working out the correlation if you need proof. I could run up a few graphs for visuals. Well? Would you like me to run a few more tests first?"

"Do you think it would be better if we used the Sickle to spin it?"

"I don't know how to use it. But let's see what Simon thinks of it."

Harry gave Sirius the Sickle. Sirius showed it to Simon, who sniffed at the blade and lipped at the handle.

"Do you think he can sense the magic?" Harry asked hopefully.

"I think he can sense the salt from everyone holding it," Sirius replied. "Horses love salt. Watch." He held his hand out flat. Harry had seen Luna do that on occasion, and Simon reacted the same way now as he had then, licking Sirius' palm. He'd tried to do that to Harry, but Harry didn't like having spit on his hands.

"But you haven't been holding salt."

Sirius smiled at Simon, who was still licking his hand. "Sweat. It has salt in it. When the barrier comes down, you should ask Hagrid about getting a salt lick for him."

"Oh. But… are you sure he didn't sense anything from the Sickle? The first time he saw it, he went kind of funny."

"Funny like me or Dumbledore when we saw it?"

"Er, not quite." Harry tried to remember. "More… surprised."

"Like the first time he saw me change into a dog?"

"Yeah. Maybe." Harry deflated a little, disappointed. He'd been hoping the Sickle had jogged Snape's memory. But maybe it couldn't do that while Snape was a horse. Maybe the Sickle could trigger the transformation. "Are you sure you're not getting… I don't know… some sort of idea on how to use the Sickle?"

"I'm sure I'd have noticed by now if sudden illumination entered my brain. Hum. Let's see if holding it against it does anything to the spell…" Sirius pressed the flat of the blade against Simon's chest. Simon craned his neck around, trying to see what Sirius was up to, his ears flicking back and forth with curiosity. Harry held his breath, wondering if this would be it – if the Sickle would trigger Simon's transformation back into Snape.

Nothing happened.

Harry let out his breath, disappointed. "Damn it."

"Sorry."

"No you're not."

"No, I guess I'm not." Sirius grinned, unrepentant as he handed the Sickle back to Harry, who put it in a pocket. "You know I don't want this horse to turn into a second-rate Death Eater."

Harry scowled, then jumped as his wand twitched. "Perimeter spell," he whispered, and darted out the door to check the fence.

It was just a blackbird which had landed on it. When it saw Harry it flew off, wittering an alarm call.

"It's okay," he said to Sirius, who had ducked behind Simon. "Only a bird."

"Good." Sirius patted Simon on the rump. "Mark how I'm patting him on the backside. There's no way I'd pat this horse on the bum if I thought he was Snape."

Harry sighed. He fancied a headache was coming on. "But you admit that spell is odd?"

"Odd, yes, but Simon's been through some odd stuff. Battles and barriers. Those silver shoes resonate right through him. I'm surprised you can't feel it."

"I didn't know you could feel magic."

"Of course you can – that's how come your Malfoy friend picked up on the curses in Simon when he was blind."

"So how come you can do it?"

"Loads of practice as a dog. No wand, you see."

"Right." That made sense. "So are you sure about the spell?"

"Well, it could be an anti-theft charm – there are some which rebound on a wizard trying to steal a magical artefact, and this one has the backnote which would allow it to be used on an animate object like a horse."

"But it's not an anti-theft charm?"

"No. Well, I don't think so. It's got the wrong dynamic. It's a transformation charm – almost into Transfigurations rather than the field of Charms, but just this side of the border. I think. I'm not up with current arguments."

"That's a first."

Sirius grinned down at Harry. "I'm argumentative, not current."

"According to Moody, you are the current argument. So given all the evidence, how can you still think Simon isn't Snape?"

"Because I don't want him to be. I've grown almost fond of Simon." Sirius chuckled. He clapped Harry on the shoulder, suddenly serious again. "You sure about this?"

He wished the Sickle had worked. No. "Yup."

"As you wish."

"Hang on, the plaits…"

"Harry, I'm only going to do this on the condition we leave the plaits. I almost wish it was going to be Snape, just to see the look on his face when he finds himself sitting naked in a stable with his hair in cute little plaits. Finite alloincantatum."

In a terrible split second of horror as Sirius spoke the spell and flicked the wand, Harry realised that they should have put Simon's cover on him. Snape was going to throw a fit when he found himself naked in a stable – not to mention how insane he'd go when he found his hair in plaits. Too late for that now – Harry winced as the spell flew out.

The spell hit Simon in the chest.

Black and yellow lines of magic streaked out and crackled. Bubbles of magic fizzed off the horse's back. The stable lit up with the light of wild magic.

The magic died out, leaving a tall, dark horse looking very startled.

"Bugger," said Harry. "It didn't do anything. Maybe you should try a-"

Simon's nostrils flared and his ears went flat back.

ooOOoo