Chapter 2! In which names are given and a Saturday is spent productively….

As you might have guessed, updates will be spotty—honestly, updates on any of my stories or any of my social media sites will be spotty until September, which is when I should have my Ph.D. And then job-hunting happens….

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Thanks for the review, sweetcat1025! Hopefully this chapter pleases! :D

Harry Potter © JK Rowling

"I bet it's a dragon," Ron said, eating a treacle tart and leaning on the table to watch the odd thing. "A baby dragon. My brother Charlie studies them, and he says they're real bitty when they're first hatched."

"A dragon ought to be breathin' fire though," Hagrid said. "They ken do that from the time they hatch."

Which led to Harry gently peeling it off of his front to put on the table so Hagrid could try tickling it under the chin and getting it to shoot flames. It didn't, instead opting to bat at Hagrid's fingers the way a kitten would when it sensed its dignity being called into question. They watched as Hagrid moved on to trying to get it to bite, but it still stuck with trying to bat him away before eventually conceding defeat and scurrying back to Harry.

"Not a dragon, then," Ron said. "Charlie says they'll try to eat you from the get-go."

"I doubt tha'," Hagrid said, helping himself to another treacle tart. "Terribly misunderstood creatures."

Ron rolled his eyes before focusing on Harry's attempt to try to interest the thing in a chunk of treacle tart. It eventually started nibbling away, revealing that the white beak had tiny razor-sharp teeth inside.

"Where'd yeh even pick this little thing up, anyway?" Hagrid asked, poking its wing gently—it batted at him again and backed up towards Harry.

"I don't know," Harry admitted. "I didn't even know it was in my robes until Fang started tugging on them—hey," he noised, pointing at Ron. "In Potions class today—I felt something tug on my jeans. I looked, but I wasn't really paying attention because I was trying to get the potion right for Slughorn—he said my Mum was the best at potions."

"She was," Hagrid confirmed. "Her and the old Potions master, Severus Snape—they were in the same year."

"The one that got blown up last year," Ron said.

"Aye—poor Trevor never quite forgave 'imself fer tha'."

The thing was starting to squeak in agitation, clinging to Harry's arm, and Harry tried petting it on its head to calm it down, finding a flat spot on its skull that—when stroked—made it go quiet and close its eyes. "Maybe we could name this thing after him."

Ron made a bit of a face at that. "I don't know—Fred and George were always complaining about him. Kind of surprised they weren't the ones to do it, to be honest."

"Ah, well, Professor Snape was always a bit biased against Gryffindors," Hagrid said, scratching at his beard. "Had a rivalry goin' with your da, 'arry—think 'e might o' been a bit jealous o' 'im."

"Really?" Harry asked. "How come?"

"Cos o' yer ma, Lily—think 'e always fancied 'er, to be 'onest."

So one of his professors had grown up with his mother and would have been able to tell him all about her—Harry felt a pang of regret for what could have been. He took a moment to take a drink of tea and compose himself—the thing, sensing that the stroking was at an end, opened its beady eyes and blinked owlishly at him.

"So," Harry said, going back to petting it. "Maybe we ought to call you Snape—after the old Potions teacher."

"Fred and George aren't going to like it," Ron pointed out.

Fred and George never heard it, seeing as how 'Snape' quickly got his name edited to 'Snips' after a while.

'Snips' being that that was what he did, quite a bit.

Tea had ended with Harry putting his robes back on and assuring Hagrid he'd be looking for what then-Snape was in the library while Hagrid consulted his own sources—being the groundskeeper of Hogwarts must involve a lot of connections, Harry decided, to keep such a huge magical school running. The little thing had snuggled up between his neck and his robe and settled in, occasionally peeking out as they made their way back up to the castle for dinner.

The snipping started when they sat down to eat and—after a moment of silence—started digging in.

"Ow!" Harry hissed at the first nip, more startled than hurt—he glanced down to see it staring pointedly at him. He guessed it was hungry and cut a tiny piece of meat for it to eat and held it up for it—it took the bit of meat and ate with it delicately clasped in its claws.

Harry went back to eating, satisfied he'd be left alone, when another nip graced his jawline.

"You didn't finish your meat," Harry pointed out when he looked back at it.

It looked at him, back at the table, back at him, before freeing up a claw and pointing imperiously at a bowl of mixed vegetables. Harry obligingly scooped a spoonful onto his plate, sorting out a smaller pea to offer to the little thing. It looked at the pea, then at Harry, back at the pea, back at Harry before pointing at the vegetables and then him.

Ron started laughing, having realized first that little Snape had been critiquing Harry's eating habits—sobered up quickly when said little thing polished off its own meal, licked its claws clean, and then launched itself over to Ron's shoulder to start nipping at him until he adjusted his own plate's contents. And then back to Harry when Harry was making a point of ignoring his vegetables.

"What is that thing?" George asked, he and Fred having watched the whole exchange from across the table.

"We don't know," Harry said, holding up a hand to protect his face from the nips. "We found it in my robes earlier."

"Now, Harry, this should be a valuable lesson to you," Fred said. "To never neglect washing your robes."

"Or your sheets," George said.

"Or your clothes."

"Why, remember the year mushrooms started sprouting all over the dorm rooms?"

"I think that might have been us, George."

"That was a good one."

The little thing stopped nipping Harry long enough to start growling at Fred and George, if one were generous enough to call a little crr a growl.

"Oh dear, it doesn't approve of us," Fred observed.

"Best be eating our vegetables," George said, putting a scoop of the mixed vegetables on his plate.

"So what do you call the little nipping thing?"

"Snips—" Harry said, before realizing his error.

"Yeah, Snips is appropriate," Ron agreed, rubbing his face.

Snape-now-Snips' attitude didn't improve upon reaching the Gryffindor common room, burrowing against Harry's neck and making agitated little yips.

"It might be too loud for him," Harry told Ron. "Come on, let's take him up to our dorm."

Ron nodded, followed Harry up the steps and to the first-year's dorm. Upon arrival, Harry sat crosslegged on his bed and waited for Snips to stick his head back out—which he did, eventually.

"I don't get it," Ron said, sitting on Harry's bed and leaning on his baseboard. "The Great Hall was just as loud."

"Yeah, but it was bigger," Harry pointed out. "The common room is a lot smaller, so maybe it seemed like more to him."

Snips gave a little peep in response, peering about the room like he expected something to come jumping out at him.

"So tomorrow we ought to go to the library," Harry said, petting Snips' head again and prompting the little thing to close his eyes each time. "See if there's a section on magical creatures we can look at."

"We're not entirely certain of him being a magical creature, though," Ron pointed out.

"I'm pretty sure I'd have heard of him if he were something Muggles were aware of."

"And you have that Slughorn party you have to go to."

"Oh yeah," Harry said, simultaneously looking forward to the party and dreading it. "Hey—maybe if we ask Slughorn tomorrow you can come too."

"Okay," Ron said, scowl fading—that echoed Harry's sentiments exactly, seeing as how he didn't want to go to a party where he knew no one by himself.

Snips, meanwhile, had finally seemed to decide that nothing in the room was going to jump out at him, and allowed Harry to gently tug him out of his robe and put him on Harry's pillow. Snips clawed at it for a moment before settling down and tucking his head under a fold of his wing, curling up and looking very much like an ink blot on the pillow.

"Well, at least he's settled in," Ron observed.

At least there was that.

Harry's first action the next morning was to check to see if Snips was still there, which he was. His next action, after getting ready, was to take Snips to go and meet Hedwig.

The snowy owl swooped down to Harry's outstretched arm as soon as he reached the owlery, nipped his ear affectionately upon him pulling his arm back in.

"Hedwig, this is Snips," Harry said, holding up his other hand and introducing the two. "he showed up in my robes yesterday. I think he comes from the Potions classroom."

Hedwig looked over the little bat-bird-thing for a few moments before deciding that preening his small crest of feathers was the best approach. Snips made a light crring noise and didn't seem to object to the attention.

Harry's next stop was breakfast, after telling Hedwig to come down and visit with the promise of bacon. Snips went to what was shaping up to be his usual perch, snug in the space between Harry's neck and his robes, his head peeking out so he could watch the comings and goings of the other students.

Harry got lost a total of three times on his way from the owlery to the Great Hall, eventually resulting in Snips nipping his jaw and pointing off in a direction. Figuring there was nothing else for it, Harry followed Snips' directions and eventually found himself walking into the Great Hall and heading for the Gryffindor table.

"Hey Harry!" Ron greeted, waving for him to come sit by him—Hedwig was already sitting there waiting for her bacon. "Where have you been?"

"Went to visit Hedwig in the owlery and got lost on my way back," Harry explained, sitting down and giving Hedwig her promised bacon. "Good news, though—Snips is good at navigating."

Snips gave a small chirp.

"Wicked," Ron said, grinning. "Now we don't have to worry about McGonagall getting on us about getting lost or being late again."

Harry was in full agreement on this, although he didn't appreciate Snips snipping at his jaw again and pointing at the fruit and oatmeal—this was starting to get annoying.

Hedwig sounding like she was laughing didn't help.

They managed to pin Professor Slughorn after breakfast and ask about Ron coming along—Ron could, fortunately. Professor Slughorn also gave them the time and place, so after that they entertained themselves with testing Snips' navigation sense again.

It was a bit of a sight, Harry holding Snips in his hands with Snips sitting up and pointing in various directions, looking a bit like an imperious plague doctor directing them this way and that in the style of a weathervane telling the wind. They arrived at a door that Snips chirped at, though, so Harry took the opportunity to knock on it, producing Professor Slughorn.

"Oh hello, Harry—did you need something?"

"No sir," Harry said, trying not to make a face at the feeling of Snips crawling up the inside of the arm of his robe. "Ron and I are just making sure we can find your office for later—so we don't get lost and are late."

Ron nodded, earning them both a how good of you to think ahead now off you get enjoy your Saturday boys. They were further down the hall when Snips poked his head out of Harry's robes again.

"How do we get to the library from here?" Harry asked him, prompting Snips to point off again. They followed his directions and ended up exactly where they needed to be.

"Absolutely brilliant," Ron whispered as they passed Madame Pince, prompting Harry to nod in agreement.

It also prompted them to look up magical creatures that were good at navigating, after finding the section.

By lunchtime, however, they had to concede that none of the creatures—although interesting—matched Snips properly. Returning after lunch didn't help, but it did have the bonus of them both agreeing that they were definitely taking Care of Magical Creatures in their third year.

Professor Slughorn's party was a bit of a wash, in Harry's opinion—Ron stayed near the snack table and Harry stayed near Slughorn, but they both got what they wanted. Snips, meanwhile, had at some point decided to stop munching on the bits Harry snuck to him and took a nap, curled up against Harry's neck and snoring softly.

This nap lasted until after dinner, at which time the noise of the common room woke Snips up and sent him yipping again. Harry tried leaving him in the dorm room, but Snips refused to stay when it became evident Harry was planning on leaving. Harry and Ron eventually ended up playing wizard's chess on the steps, Ron teaching Harry the basics of the game as people maneuvered around them.

But in all, it wasn't a bad way to spend a day, Harry thought.