Songbird

Chapter 4
Weekend Chaos

Sunday evening found Harry sitting in his room, looking out the window at the setting sun. He wondered, once again, about the curious letter Remus had sent him, and the plans Dumbledore had for the rest of his summer. This wasn’t the first time that the Headmaster of Hogwarts had neglected to mention important tidbits of information to him, and it wouldn’t be the last. Harry had already resigned himself to the fate of being kept in the dark about anything and everything.

In the distance he could see Hedwig flying back from her trip to Hogwarts - where Remus said he would be. Harry was curious as to why his adoptive Godfather had been staying at the school, but he figured that it was probably Order business and Remus wouldn’t tell him even if he pressed, so there was no point in asking. The werewolf could keep a secret as well as Dumbledore if he wanted.

When the snowy owl landed, Harry gave her a treat and stroked her glossy feathers. Reaching for the letter tied to her leg, he gave her a final stroke before she launched off to find food. Harry was surprised to see that it was not Remus that had written back, but Professor Dumbledore. He wondered what this was about.

Harry,

I heard from Remus that you already know I have prepared for you to stay somewhere else for the rest of the summer. I know that your relatives would provide a better protection from Voldemort and his Death Eaters while under their roof, but you must be trained again in Occlumacy and Defense.

(Harry’s eyes widened in horror, Dumbledore wasn’t thinking… Harry quickly scanned the rest of the short letter. He was.)

Harry, I have arranged for you to stay with Professor Snape in a safe house that I have prepared for you, in London. There, you will train with Severus to further your skills in Dueling and continue Occlumacy. I cannot stress how important it is that you try and get along with Professor Snape. In the least, put aside your differences for the remainder of this summer.

I have arranged for Severus to pick you up at Private Drive on Monday afternoon. Be ready by then.

Albus Dumbledore
Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Leader of The Order of the Phoenix

After finishing the letter, he went over it three more times to make sure his eyes were not deceiving him. Finally, the implications of the letter finally sinking in he slammed his head against the lumpy pillow while groaning. Of all the people Dumbledore could choose to train him in dueling, he had to choose the one person that didn’t get along with Harry, and the one person in the Wizarding World who knew his secret.

Looking at his owl he complained, “Why does it have to happen to me Hedwig?”

Hedwig glanced at him before turning away and starting to preen her feathers; looking as if to say, “Don’t bother asking me why you humans do things the way they do. I’m just a bird.”

Harry pouted, “The least you could do is be sympathetic.”

She hooted, flew over to Harry, landed on his shoulder, griped his ear in her beak and gave it a tug.

“Ouch,” Harry complained, hand moving to his ear, “Stop that, I’m not feeling sorry for myself; I’m just protesting the unfairness of it all.”

Hedwig gave the ear another tug and flew back to her seat on the window in a gesture that said, “You could have fooled me.”

Harry wrinkled his nose and pulled his legs up onto the bed to cross in front of him. He continued to glare at the offending parchment that contained Dumbledore’s words of condemnation.

*****

Severus Snape leaned back against the hard wood table that served as his work desk and stared into a cauldron of yet another ruined batch of test potion. He had been attempting to make a potion that had the effects of the dreamless sleep without the added problem of addiction, if taken over a long period of time. The wormwood that most sleeping potions used was the main issue; it could be diluted to prevent addiction but then would not prevent dreams from forming when used.

He sighed in frustration; he had been trying to find an alternative to wormwood for the past month or so but with little to no success. The ingredient was unique in that, if used in the proper amounts, it could block a certain part of the thought process responsible for dreams in a human’s mind. If the brewer added too much, the effect would be opposite to the desired one; instead of inhibiting the mind it would cause the user to become delusional.

Severus could only imagine how many rats had run amok drunkenly from when they first tested the potion.

An owl bearing the Hogwarts crest landed squarely in front of the Potions Master, giving him a slight start - he had been too irritated with his lack of success to notice the animal. Giving the bird a glare he took the letter from its beak, wondering what Albus wanted from him.

Severus, it read

I hope you enjoyed your holiday. I’m sorry to do this to you, but you must know that I have no choice; there was a danger of my plans being leaked out to unscrupulous hands.

My boy, I have a favor to ask you, there is a reason I wanted you to take this impromptu holiday, aside from the fact that you needed one. That reason is Harry Potter.

(No! No, no, no, no! Absolutely not! Severus glared at the offending piece of parchment, silently demanding that the words rearrange themselves to say something else entirely. But unfortunately, fate, and the parchment paid him no heed.)

I’d like to ask you to continue young Harry’s Occlumacy training until the beginning of the school term, by which time I hope he will have a strong enough grasp on the skill to prevent Voldemort from trying to gain access to his mind again. Some Defense training is also in order. The child needs to be prepared for his confrontation with Voldemort. I have a feeling that this confrontation will not be a long time in coming.

Please, do your best to train the boy. I have arranged for you to pick him up at his relative’s home on Monday afternoon, he will have everything packed and ready for you to pick up. I have sent a letter to him about this arrangement already, and I shall see you both the day before the school term begins.

If you would please, Severus, the boy needs to go to Diagon Ally to pick up his school supplies for the year.

Albus Dumbledore
Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Leader of the Order of the Phoenix

Severus swore loudly, scaring the owl into flight and out of the house. The fact that Albus had used his status as Headmaster and Head of the Order was not lost on Severus, he knew that this was an order – or as much of an order Albus would make without it sounding like one – rather than a request.

Still swearing under his breath he flicked his wand at the mess on his worktable. There was no point in working when he was in this foul a mood. It would not do for him to waste more ingredients, not to mention he now had to prepare a room for the Potter boy for Monday. He was not looking forward to the task of teaching a spoilt brat before summer holidays were even over.

*****

Monday morning came and Harry trudged down the stairs of Private Drive no 4 to grab a cold cup of milk and some toast with butter under the eye of a suspicious Petunia Dursley. Ever since he started paying for his rent Harry no longer made breakfast or did any of the chores in the house, except on the weekends. Uncle Vernon thought that since Harry was still living under his roof, he would put him to good use. But because he never knew what day of the week Harry would be working he only demanded that the boy ‘helped’ with the housework on weekends.

After changing out of his pajamas into a pair of well-washed jeans and tight fitting t-shirt, Harry walked down to the kitchen once again. This time Uncle Vernon was also present. His face was covered by the morning newspaper while Aunt Petunia busied herself with the dishes.

“Uncle Vernon,” He said evenly, to gain his uncle’s attention, when the large man grunted Harry continued, “I got a letter from my Headmaster yesterday. There’ll be a teacher coming here later this afternoon and I’ll be leaving with him for the rest of the holidays.”

Vernon placed his paper down, “So you’re leaving us for good then, boy?” he demanded.

“I’m not sure, but for the rest of this summer, yes.”

Petunia had also stopped what she was doing and was looking at Harry, “Well, you finish that freakish school of yours this year don’t you?” she asked, and at Harry’s nod of confirmation she said, “We don’t want you here longer than we must. If you’ve finished school then you can find a place of your own to stay. We don’t want anything more to do with you, understand?”

Harry tensed at the hostile words and nodded tersely, “I’ll be in my room packing.” And he turned to walk up the stairs.

If he was hurt at the callous words he didn’t show it.

*****

Afternoon came and Severus found himself looking at the perfectly organized and tidy lawn of Private Drive no 4. He was slightly non-pulsed if not a little disgusted at the perfect replication that was every house in Private Drive. No one house was different in outlook or outdoors decoration than the other; it was slightly eerie to say the least.

Standing tall he grabbed the brass and knocked loudly on the wood. A large pig-like boy opened the door, and Severus wondered if the creature could even fit through.

The boy gave him a once look over before turning his head and shouting, “Freak teacher from that freakish school of yours is here.”

Severus raised an elegant eyebrow at being called a freak by this pudgy monstrosity. He could barely see though the gap left by the boy, as he turned sideways to look at something. Potter was dragging his suite case down the flight of stairs with his owls cage tucked under one arm, and his back braced against the trunk to prevent it from sliding down the stairs and squashing the youth.

Finally, he stood in front of Severus, the fat muggle child had moved away, towards what Severus guessed was the kitchen.

Potter’s breath was slightly uneven as he glanced up at the Hogwarts Professor. “I’m ready Professor Snape.” He said.

When the Potions Master raised his eyes to look behind him, Harry turned back to see the Professor was looking through the kitchen door where Aunt Petunia was standing, glaring heatedly at the two wizards.

“Oh,” Harry said understandingly, “Don’t worry, I’ve told them this morning already… I guess you could say we’ve already said our goodbyes.”

The taller man gave a sharp nod, turned abruptly and began to walk away. He stopped when he couldn’t feel Harry behind him and turned to sneer, “Come along Potter, I don’t have all day.”

When he saw the boy was struggling with the trunk once again he sighed in exasperation, “Shrink the trunk Potter.”

“But – “ Harry protested, “The restrictions.”

Severus looked at him as if he were an idiot, “You are seventeen Mr. Potter, and thus legally permitted to perform magic unsupervised.”

Harry blushed, he had forgotten. Once he had shrunk the trunk and placed it in his pocket, he turned back to his Professor. The man was already walking away, so he ran to catch up.

“Where are we going to be staying Professor?” he asked, curious.

Snape glared at the green eyed boy, “London,” he said shortly, then stopped and glared at the boy before he could ask again, “No, I will not tell you where. I do not need anyone and everyone knowing where we will be staying for the next three or so weeks.”

Harry glared in reply and was about to retort when the Professor grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the larger man. Before he could protest, Harry felt a sickening sensation of being pulled though a straw. Just as Harry thought he might scream or run out of air, the feeling stopped and he stumbled. He would have fallen had Severus not caught him.

Dimly focusing past the roaring of his ears he noted that the Potions Professor smelled like dried herbs and sandalwood. Before his mind could register that he was sniffing his hated Professor, Snape righted him and snapped, “We’re here.”

Harry looked around to see where ‘here’ was. They were standing on the front porch of a small but tasteful two-story house. The walls were painted in soft beige colour and the roof was dark brown - covered by slates of roof tile. The front door was an earthy light brown with green vines painted up the sides. Harry wondered what the inside looked like; he had a feeling that he was going to like it (where the décor was concerned that is).

Snape opened the door and gestured Harry to enter. He walked into a large family room with leather couches that formed a C on one side, a dining table which was cluttered with potion ingredients, and cauldron on the other. Further in, he could see the stairs that led up to the bedrooms, and even further in was the kitchen behind an arched doorway.

“Potter,” Snape’s voice pulled him out of his observations, “take your things upstairs. The second room to the right is yours, and the last room down the hall is the bathroom. You can freshen up in there, then we will talk.”

Harry nodded and trudged up the stairs. The upper level was fairly similar the first floor, except that the floor was covered with a thick, soft, dark red carpet – unlike the wooden boards below. The walls were still the same pale yellow that reminded Harry of a sunny morning.

He entered his room and set down Hedwig’s cage, then took out his trunk and enlarged it. In the center of his room, against the far wall, was a large four-poster bed with navy blue hangings and silver coverlet. He placed his trunk at the end of his bed, and his took out his parent’s photo album, which he placed on the end table.

Harry then took out a change of clothing, as well as his toiletry, and walked out the door to where the bathroom was located. As he changed and washed his face, he steeled himself for the conversation to come.

Meanwhile, downstairs in the kitchen, Severus was doing much of the same thing; he started to prepare a light meal for his houseguest and himself, thinking about what he wanted to say to the bothersome youth. Damn Albus for putting me up to this, he thought angrily, he did not look forward to having the rest of his remaining holiday in the presence of the Gryffindor Golden Boy.

As he was putting the finishing touches to the light dinner he heard Potter walk down the stairs and into the kitchen. He turned, placing the two plates on the kitchen table and gestured impatiently for the boy to sit.

“Eat,” he said, “Then we’ll talk about the schedule for the rest of the summer.”

TBC

Date: February 3, 2007

Beta: Lucy

Author: Dark Illusions

Word count: 2655