10
The next morning, Severus Snape went from happily snoring in his warm and cosy bed to freezing cold in the blink of an eye. Great. He was a puppet and he was hidden somewhere outside. And it was snowing.
Snape tried to see where exactly he was but it was still dark and all he could make out were the twigs of a hazel bush. He tried to remember where on the grounds hazel bushes could be found. The potions master – who often collected ingredients on the grounds and hazel bark was used in a couple of brews he made for the hospital wing regularly – could name several. At the edge of the forbidden forest, near Hagrid's hut, there was a small group of hazel bushes. Behind the greenhouses were two big ones which Pomona Sprout guarded like a Cerberus because their twigs were of wand quality and she sold them to Ollivander. Snape hoped he wasn't in any of those because the students knew better than to come near them and he would have to wait forever to be found.
There were several hazel bushes near the banks of the Great Lake, some of them very close to the lake. With a shudder the potions master tried to see whether there was water under his twig. If he fell into the water, he could very well end up as a toy for the giant squid.
When dawn finally arrived, Snape realised three things. Firstly, he was nowhere near the lake and therefore safe from the squid and secondly, he was in a bush in one of the castle's many courtyards. That was good because it increased his chance of being found quickly. Thirdly, he realised that there were squirrels in the courtyard.
A big red one with a particularly bushy tail appeared in front of the potions master and made a trilling sound.
Go away, Snape thought with all his might but apparently squirrels were completely immune to attempts of legilimency.
His new friend sniffed the potions master excitedly. It hopped around him, making Snape's twig rock dangerously. The bushy tail brushed across Snape's face. The potions master started to consider the benefits of squirrel fur hats.
The squirrel kept hopping and trilling until it happened. Snape lost his balance and fell to the ground. The beast followed him down immediately and proceeded to pull him across the yard by his leg.
Snape started a list of potions which required squirrel parts in his mind.
With dread, he realised that he was pulled towards a big fir tree on the other side of the yard. Oh no! If the squirrel pulled him into its nest cave and he changed there, he was in real trouble!
Snape considered using his safe word. But no, who said that the squirrel could climb the tree with him? It was too early for the safe word.
He didn't need it because they were in the middle of the snow covered yard when McGonagall cried "Snape in a Cape!" from the ambulatory.
The moment Snape turned back, he had his wand out and fired spell after spell at the hapless squirrel. The animal fled with a trilling shriek.
"Severus! Stop tormenting this cute squirrel!" admonished the head of Gryffindor. "Animal cruelty does not become you and I won't tolerate it!"
"It bit me!" cried the potions master. He showed his leg. The trouser leg was torn where the squirrel had grabbed puppet Snape to pull him. There was blood.
"Oh Severus!" the transfiguration mistress hurried to her colleague's side. "Do sit down!" She conjured a stretcher.
"Minerva, don't be ridiculous," complained Snape. "I'm not decrepit!"
McGonagall snorted. "You are hurt, sit down or I'll make you!"
"I'm hungry! I want breakfast! And I owe you your present!"
"You can give me my present later," the witch waved her wand at the stretcher and it floated into the castle, towards the hospital wing.
Poppy Pomfrey gasped when she saw Snape's leg. "Severus! You could have lost your leg! Where did you meet a dragon?"
"A dragon?" Snape snorted.
"I know my beasts and I recognise a dragon bite when I see one," the matron informed him. She handed him a potion vial. Snape recognised the tetanus potion he provided for the hospital wing on a regular basis.
It took almost an hour for the school nurse to be satisfied with the condition of Snape's leg. Once she was done, the potions master and the two witches – McGonagall had stayed by his side and even held his hand when the nurse applied a salve to the wound – made their way to the Great Hall to have a bite of breakfast before the first lesson.
"Severus!" cried the headmaster when he spotted the blood on Snape's trousers. "What happened to you?"
"He was bitten by a dragon," said Pomfrey.
"A dragon!" gasped the Dark Lord. "Where is it? It can't be allowed to roam the school grounds!"
"We must get rid of it," agreed the headmaster.
"Point me to it and I'll solve the problem for you," cried the Dark Lord. He brandished his wand in his right hand and his pointing stick in his left.
"I was able to rout it once Minerva had turned me back," said Snape. "There's no action required." He reached for the toast.
"You are so brave, Master!" the apprentice took the toast from Snape and buttered it for him. "A true hero!"
"Were you able to see what kind of dragon it was?" asked Hagrid.
"A Scottish Brushtail," said Snape. Since he got his toast buttered, he used his hands to rummage in his pocket and hand McGongall her present.
The witch opened the box immediately. In it was a magnificent pheasant feather. "Spendid!" cried the head of Gryffindor and fixed it to her pointed hat.
"This," the Dark Lord pointed at the feather, "looks very elegant, Madam."
McGonagall giggled and blushed a little, and Snape had some toast.