Jigsaw

CHAPTER 16

“Well I’ll be Merlin’s uncle!” Harry smiled widely at Headmistress McGonagall as she gestured hastily to the sofa by the fire, still in shock from seeing two bedraggled wizards clambering into her reading room, via a two-way bookcase.

“Minerva.” Snape whispered politely as Harry led him easily to the sofa and sat him closest to the fire.

“Sorry to barge in professor but we had little choice.” Harry looked knowingly across at the headmistress who nodded understandingly, her eyes twinkling with delight.

“I understand Harry, you are both most welcome here although lucky that your timing was so good. Not a second before you turned up, the Auror’s were here giving me their report of the day.” Harry let go of Snape’s arm and moved over to the fireplace where he was glad to have the heat to chill the cold that had seeped into his bones during their long walk up the passage staircase. “Severus my dear friend, you are looking remarkable.” Harry watched on carefully as Minerva summoned a tray of tea before pouring all three of them a cup. “Here, drink this.” Carefully the headmistress placed the warm cup in Severus waiting hands, her smile lighting up her features as the man drank it quickly before asking for some more. “We had thought you had perished with the others, but I had hope. Hope perhaps that Harry here would succeed where others had failed to find you and I see my hope was not misplaced.” The headmistress refilled Snape’s cup for him as he settled back into the comfort of the couch. Not much in the headmistresses room had changed since Albus’ time here, and Harry found it comforting to be in such familiar surroundings.

“Yes, Mr Potter is as stubborn as a mule.” Snape muttered as he sipped again from his aniseed tea. McGonagall laughed quietly and nodded understandingly at Harry, who merely rose a determined eyebrow at Snape, who was completely oblivious to its meaning.

“You are not unaffected though Severus, your eyesight is…” McGonagall trailed off as she watched Snape turn his cloudy, unseeing eyes towards her. “It is an atrocity that should not have happened, he has gone but he still leaves his accursed mark on this world.” McGonagall finished quickly as she rose from her seat beside Snape and strode determinedly over to her desk. “Anything you want Harry you have it.”

Harry had just opened his mouth to begin telling the headmistress about his plans to find a cure when the elder witch spun around and stared knowingly into his eyes. “Professor Snape’s chambers are as they were when he left them. The current potions professor prefers the lighter mood of the third floor rather than the dungeons, so you will be free to use them as you wish and be relatively undisturbed. The Slytherin’s are known to have occasional parties in the disused classrooms down there at times but if you’re careful you will avoid being caught.”

“Thank-you.” Harry whispered as McGonagall strode across the short space and hugged Harry tightly against her chest.

“You’re godfather has been beside himself since receiving news of your disappearance, do I have your permission to inform him you are well when I am next in Hogsmeade, if I do not reveal your whereabouts?” McGonagall pulled back from her hug of Harry and held her once student at arms length.

“Yes but please not a word about Professor Snape, no one must know I have found him or that he is here.” Harry nodded at the headmistress who smiled sideways at where Snape was blindly reaching out to put his empty cup on the floating tray beside him. The professor however missed the tray completely but Harry was quicker and flicked his wand at the cup, suspending it instantly in the air to prevent it from breaking on the stone floor. Snape seemed none the wiser that he’d missed the tray, and Harry smiled coyly as he flicked his wand at the cup and put it perfectly back on the tray. McGonagall watched the scene play out before her eyes and Harry watched as a familiar knowing sparkle lit up her eyes as she looked from Harry to Snape and then back to her ex student. “Take care of him Harry, the ministry have employed bounty hunters to find him and bring him to justice. 100,000 Knuts is the price on his head.” Harry sighed heavily as McGonagall whispered softly into his ear, so that Snape wouldn’t over hear it.

“If I can just find the cure for the curse things will be easier from then on you’ll see.” Harry smiled confidently at the headmistress although he felt exactly the opposite inside. McGonagall nodded and stepped up to the fireplace where she opened the lid of a silver box and pulled out a handful of floo powder.

“The professors chambers are protected by his own wards and undetectable to the Auror’s who think there is nothing in the dungeons accept unused classrooms and the Slytherin’s Dormitories. The floo between this office and Severus’ chambers is unwatched but my advice is not to use it unless in an emergency. The less use the less chance there is of someone suspecting it. Now go quickly, there is someone at my door.” Not a second later Harry heard the sharp rap of knuckles on the door. Quickly Harry grabbed Snape’s arm and walked him over to the fire place, with a backward smile at McGonagall Harry led Snape into the fire and with a puff of green smoke they were gone.

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“It smells just like I remember it.” Harry looked cautiously across at Snape who stood in the centre of the room and inhaled deeply on the stale air of the room they’d both stumbled into. Never in his entire school career at Hogwart’s had Harry ever stepped foot into a professors private chambers and it was quite a shock to see how spacious they actually were. What surprised Harry the most however was the chosen colour scheme of the potion professor’s furnishings. Dark Mahoney made up the shelves, the coffee table and a few other pieces of wooden furniture, while the two large armchairs were covered in rich warm cream velour. A crimson rug sat beneath the table on the stone floor while a runner of the same colour trailed off into another darkened room, Harry assumed was Snape’s bedroom. “Enlarge the trunks in my room, I want to see if my lab is still in stocked.” Harry was stunned as Snape pointed exactly at the door leading to his bedroom, before the man strode almost confidently around the various obstacles in his way disappearing in through another archway. Harry shook his head in disbelief that the man could remember exactly where every piece of furniture was in his rooms but then Harry supposed the wizard had spent the better part of his years here in the dungeons of Hogwarts. With a sigh Harry toddled off into Snape’s bedroom. If he’d have thought about it he might not have been so casual about entering the place where his most hated professor slept. Flicking his wand around the room Harry lit the various candles on the walls illuminating the room in a warm glow. Again Harry was stuck by the colour scheme, a mahogany four-poster sat centre of the room, the coverlets the same crimson colour as the rug, while the drapes and canopy matched the cream of the arm chairs out in the lounge. Harry raised an eyebrow at the overly large bed, a smile creeping onto his face as he, for the first time in his life considered that Snape had good taste in home furnishings. Taking both Snape’s tiny trunk and his own out of his cloak pocket Harry put them on the floor and re enlarged them. Harry dragged Snape’s trunk to the bottom of the bed before pushing his own into the corner beside a large wardrobe. From the looks of things the house elves had still been looking after the place with not a spec of dust on any of the surfaces. Harry was just inspecting his messed up hair in the dresser mirror when he heard a curse and crash from the other room. Grabbing his wand Harry rushed to Snape’s aid.

Harry took a brief moment to admire the private potions lab before he shifted around the large central bench and bent down to where Snape was lying on the floor.

“Are you alright?” Snape’s legs were tangled in a stool, the wizard obviously having tripped over it.

“Blasted house elves.” Snape swore as he leant on Harry heavily when his student had got him back on to his feet. Harry reached for the stool and righted it so that Snape could sit down. The wizard winced as Harry gently inspected his potion masters grazed hands.

“Here, just wash them off they’re only grazed.” Harry reached over to the sink in the middle of the bench and turned on the water. The tap spluttered for a moment before a steady stream of cool water poured from the faucet. Harry eased Snape’s hands under the water and gently washed away the specks of blood and dirt along with the shaved skin. Harry felt Snape tense with pain but that pain was not reflected in the man’s expressionless face.

“I felt jars over there on the shelves, tell me are they full?” Harry handed Snape the handkerchief from his cloak pocket to pat his hands dry, before approaching the shelves that Snape had indicated too. Harry screwed his nose up in disgust as he ran his finger along the line of jars on the shelves; all of them looked to contain the same green gooey substance that seemed to be alive.

“Yeah they’re full but not of potions ingredients, it looks like some green slime from the bottom of the lake, it looks putrid!” Harry tapped one of the jars and watched as the substance inside swelled with a bubble before bursting and releasing what looked to be a green gas of some sort.

“Damn the air must have got to them.” Snape muttered as Harry moved back over to the bench where the potions professor sat.

“It looks like more than just the air got to them.” Harry shuddered as he remembered all the foul things he used to cut, slice and dice up in potions class. Snape smiled and lowered himself from the stool easily walking over to where a cupboard was sitting on the wall. Snape fumbled around for the handle to the cupboard for a moment before finding it and yanking it open to reveal a vast array of potions ingredients, in a far better state than the green gooey ones on the shelves.

“What about these? This is the powders cabinet.” Harry moved up behind Snape and inspected the jars, which looked much like he remembered the powder stores in Snape’s classroom looked like.

“Yeah I think they’re okay.” Harry mumbled as he pushed aside a few jars to check the ones in the back.

“Good then we won’t have to completely start again, but those will have to be cleaned out, and fresh stock put back in them.” Snape closed the cabinet narrowly missing Harry’s fingers, which were still there arranging the jars. Harry rolled his eyes at his potions master, already knowing what was about to come. “I suggest you change into something that won’t matter if it’s irretrievably ruined.” Snape was already carrying the gooey jars from the shelves to the central table, the sink slowly filling with hot soapy water. Harry groaned and flicked his wand at himself, changing into the too big t-shirt and hand me down shorts Harry had stashed in the bottom of his trunk, and had hardly worn since leaving Hogwart’s, eight years ago. Surprisingly they still fit him, well as much as Dudley’s old hand me down’s ever fitted that is.

“Why do we have to do this now, right this minute!” Harry muttered as he pulled up the second stool and emptied the first goo filled jar down the sink. The goo made a disgustingly sloppy sound as it gurgled down the drain and Harry forced back a heave as he pushed the jar into the warm soapy water.

“Because I do not know what has contaminated these jars and if it is left unchecked could mutate and kill us both during the night, now put a sock in it and start scrubbing.” Harry glared at Snape, rather disappointed however that the potions professor wasn’t able to witness it.

“And what are you going to do?” Harry muttered as he realised the goo smelled just as foul as it looked. Harry charmed a near by quill into a clothes peg and promptly snapped it onto his nose before continuing scrubbing.

“I’m going to research.” Snape snapped sharply as he disappeared into the living room, returning a moment or two later with a large pile of levitated potion books behind him. Harry sighed heavily as Snape sat down and spelled the first of the potions book to begin reading to him. The voice the book began talking in was almost monotone and Harry was sharply reminded of Professor Binns. Blocking out the dull voice Snape was intently listening to Harry turned back to his chore and with a quiet glance at Snape every so often went about his job. Harry sighed as he thought about the irony of where he was. Same old Hogwart’s, same old nasty potions master and same old detention chores, finally he’d come full circle back to where he’d started it all, only one slight difference was that he was older not that he didn’t feel every inch a 16 year old school boy again at that very moment.

TBC>>>>>>>>>>