3

He Does Care After All

The fourth day it rained all day and there were thunderstorms at night. Students were uneasy and fractious all day and tested the patience of the teachers to the limit, resulting in lost points left and right as well as detentions.

Severus was in a foul mood, sudden thunderstorms triggered painful sinus headaches, and he spent most of the day taking potions that made him slightly fuzzy and as a result he had no tolerance for misbehavior that day. He skipped lunch and remained lying down on the couch with a towel soaked in an herbal wash over his eyes, while his raven shadow crooned and sang soothing songs in his ear.

Usually, Severus battled his headaches alone, and at first snapped at Skull to go away, but gradually he came to realize that the raven's voice actually served to focus his mind on something other than the pain, and he drifted off to sleep listening to Skull humming "Bye Bye Blackbird".

Severus woke in a much better mood. His headache was gone and he was restless. "Skullduggery, would you like to go for a walk?"

The raven woke from his nap, yawning. "Hmm . . . as long as it's you doing the walking."

"Lazy thing!" Snape scolded, then cautiously reached out a finger to scratch the raven behind the head.

Skull leaned into the caress, his heart singing. Could it be that Severus was beginning at last accept him?

The raven carefully stepped onto Severus' shoulder, and Snape stood up, careful not to jostle the bird. He checked his watch, it was inbetween the last class of the day and supper, a good time to take a walk through the corridors and make sure no student was up to no good. This had always been one of the prime times for the Marauders to ambush him.

He passed the Slytherin portrait hole, walking deeper and deeper into the warren of tunnels that made up the dungeon. He walked past Filch's office, past his classroom, and down to Dungeon number 3, which was largely unused, except for detention. Severus' boots whispered over the stone, he had learned during the course of his tumultuous childhood to move silently to avoid waking his volatile father, and it was a habit he had never lost. Now he knew spells to move silent as a cat, without a sound, but he rarely used them.

As he drew near the doorway, he heard voices, and his "Marauder" radar went on the alert. But when he stalked forward, expecting to see two students plotting, or more likely, a student bullying another, he found instead a Hufflepuff crouched on the floor, her arms about her knees, shivering and crying. Above her hovered Peeves the Poltergeist.

At first, Snape was certain the reason why the girl was crying was because Peeves had scared her silly, and he was prepared to call the Bloody Baron, but then he calmed and actually listened to the conversation and discovered, to his shock, that the poltergeist was actually trying to cheer the miserable child up, by telling silly stories and jokes.

"Don't you think you ought to come up from the floor now, Robyn, my dear? You might turn into a block of ice, and I can tell you right quick, Professor Snape won't be happy if he stubs his toe on an ice statue in the middle of the dungeon corridor. Come now, your detention is over, and if you like, I can scare the snot out of Filch by doing my road kill impersonation. That's where I turn myself inside out and spill my guts! Get it? Spill my guts? Pretty funny, huh? What, not even a smile? But that one always gets a smile. . . ."

Merlin's ghost, but what happened to her? Severus wondered, then decided to find out. He appeared out of the shadows and approached the pair, asking softly, "Now what have we here? Peeves, have you been scaring Miss Jennings?"

The poltergeist whirled about. "Me, Professor Snape? I'm innocent, I tell ya! 'Twas Filch what scared her, sir. She was assigned detention with him fer forgettin' her homework in Professor Binns' class, and Filchie took it too far, by my lights."

Severus' eyebrow went up. Peeves lived to scare students, or at least make them crazy with his pranks, and if he was saying Filch took things too far . . .Severus looked down at the third-year huddled on the floor, she hadn't even acknowledged his presence, and felt empathy stir within him. He knelt down and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Miss Jennings, this is Professor Snape. There is no need to get hysterical over a detention. Can you tell me what Filch did?"

Silence.

"Look at me, please."

Very slowly, the girl pulled her head up. Her face was blotchy and streaked with tears, her blue eyes welled with more tears and a kind of stricken fear. "Please, sir . . . don't send me back . . . please . . ."

"Send you back? To Mr. Filch?" A nod. "If you have completed your detention, I have no reason to do so." He kept his voice low and soothing. "What has got you in such a state?"

"Mr. Filch, he . . . while I was scrubbing the floor . . . he said things . . . terrible things . . ."

She started to sob, then quite without thinking, he pulled her to him, and she pressed against his shoulder, shivering and weeping. "Shhh . . . it's all right, child. Whatever Filch told you, know that he is not allowed to harm students, not even a little . . ."

"W-what about my f-family? He . . . he said he was gonna chain up my little brother, Martin's a firstie, and rip out his toenails with red hot pincers. He showed me them . . . said if I didn't behave, he'd make me watch it . . ."

Severus swore furiously in his head. Peeves had been right. "I shall have a word with Mr. Filch about this, Jennings. Several words, in fact." He gently rubbed her back. "Jennings, you're freezing, for the love of Salazar, get up off the floor."

"I d-don't think I can move . . .sir . . . I'm sorry . . .!"

Trying to head off another crying jag, Severus sighed and lifted her into his arms. She was slight as a bird and he carried her back down the corridor easily.

"Sir, where are we going?"

"To my office, where I can get you warmed up with a blanket and a cup of cocoa, and then we shall go to Professor Sprout and let her know what happened. Mr. Filch was out of line with his threats and should not be allowed to preside over detention alone ever again. . ."

The girl seemed to relax then, and looked up at him. "Thank you, professor. You're not really that bad." She gave him a watery smile.

He met her eyes and gave her a half-smile in return. "You will keep quiet about this, Jennings?"

"Yes, sir."

Back in his office, he set his student down in a wingback chair, conjured a warm green blanket and wrapped it around her, handed her a handkerchief to wipe her eyes, then Summoned a house elf to bring a tray with hot cocoa and some chocolate biscuits for Robyn.

However, the child still looked downcast, so Skullduggery decided to try his own brand of humor, and began to sing the old song "Rockin' Robin" lustily, forgetting he was concealed.

Robyn Jennings almost fell out of the chair when suddenly a voice from nowhere began belting out the words, " . . .Rockin' Robin! Tweet, tweet, tweet!"

She stared at the professor with huge eyes, because Severus, who also nearly had heart failure, was glaring at his left shoulder. "Sir . . . who's singing?"

Severus turned back and sighed. "That, Jennings, is my invisible guest."

"Is he a spirit?"

"No, he is very much alive, but prefers not to be seen at the moment."

"Don't worry, child. I never bite . . . unless you deserve it." Skull warbled. "And don't worry about the professor either, his bark is worse than his bite."

Robyn suddenly smiled shyly, and concealed a snicker behind her hand.

Just then the tray with the cocoa and biscuits arrived and Robyn thanked Severus and began to sip the delicious drink slowly. She watched in astonishment as a chocolate biscuit devoured itself, then hesitantly reached out and took one herself.

"Bottomless pit," Severus growled when a second biscuit disappeared. "I ordered them for Miss Jennings, not you."

"Are you going to drink your cocoa then? Because if not, I shall."

"You keep your beak out of my cocoa or else you'll be in the oven beneath a pie crust singing about four-and-twenty blackbirds."

A tiny giggle escaped the Hufflepuff.

Severus turned and quirked an eyebrow at her.

She blushed and quickly sipped her cocoa, but her blue eyes were shining now with laughter instead of tears.

They finished their cocoa in silence, then Severus rose and said he would escort Robyn to Professor Sprout and explain what had happened.

"Thank you, Professor Snape," she said before exiting the office. "I promise I won't tell about the cocoa, or the invisible bird in your office. Will he ever show himself?"

"Someday," answered Snape, thinking about the day Skullduggery would leave and finding that he wasn't as eager for that day to come as he thought.