As Winter Calls

As class=GramE>Winter calls

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Disclaimer:
I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the characters in the Harry Potter books.
They belong to J. K. Rowling and Bloomsbury Books.

In the deep cold of
night

Winter calls, he cries, don't deny me...

The deep blue potion
sparkled in the light that refracted through the glass vial it was held it,
glittering like a rare jewel.

A pale hand turned the
vial this way and that, admiring the colour as if it were a fine wine he was
about to sample.

"This is
ridiculous." A caustic voice remarked from across the room. The owner of
the pale hand holding the delicate vial set it down on the low table before him
and turned to address the speaker.

"Not so,
Severus," He replied in a cool, aristocratic voice, "It is the
perfect plan. Know thine enemy."

Severus Snape, sat bolt
upright in a plush chair that was really meant for lounging, fixed his obsidian
eyes on his comrade.

"He isn't really our
enemy, Lucius." He replied dryly. Lucius returned Snape's look coolly,

"He could be. He
could be a greater danger to us than the Dark Lord and Dumbledore combined.
This is the matter that concerns me."

Snape snorted
disdainfully, "So, you have me spend almost two years working on this
potion, distilling the clotted blood I managed to rescue from the floor of that
disgusting Chamber, all because you were...concerned."style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Lucius could here the sarcasm dripping from
that last word.

"Yes." Lucius
said flatly, "Now stop trying to be clever, Severus, and get on with
it."

Severus sighed as if it
were some great chore and stood up, setting a small mirror on the table, he
tapped it with his wand and muttered the Engorgement charm, making the mirror
now roughly a foot in diameter. He carefully took up the vial and poured its
contents over the surface of the mirror and murmured another spell, tapping the
mirror frame lightly.

The mirror surface swirled
and rippled like an angry sea for a moment, before the image within the glass
resolved into the inside of a house. A house containing a young boy with messy
black hair, who was quietly shuffling around a kitchen.

Lucius and Severus
exchanged a look, surprised that the somewhat unlikely plan had actually
succeeded.

In the still light of
dawn, he cries,

Helpless hands soul revealing..

Harry Potter tried to move
as silently as possible, catching the slider on the toaster before it could pop
up and make a noise and potentially wake up his relatives...which he knew would
mean he got no breakfast, and probably no lunch, either.

He smothered to toast in
marmalade, then returned the jar to its cupboard, making sure it didn't shut
too loudly. He turned and looked out across the well-kept garden, admiring how
the pale dawn light spilled across the immaculate lawn. He liked this time of
day, no noise, no bullying cousins, shrill aunts or arrogant uncles.

Then, he froze as he heard
the distinct sounds of upstairs floorboards groaning under a considerable
weight.

Harry cursed himself. He
should have crept back to his room the way he usually did instead of pausing to
admire the dawn.

But there was no help for
it now as his fat oaf of a cousin waddled into the kitchen, no doubt searching
for something to stuff his face with.

Beady eyes fixed on Harry,
and on the toast he was eating, an expression of confusion on his bloated
features.

"You shouldn't be
down here." Dudley said, and then the confusion lifted as his piggish face
twisted into an unpleasant grin, "I'll tell Dad."

"Good." Harry
said through gritted teeth, "You do that." He began to make his way
around his cousin's bulk, aiming for the door, but before he got there,
Dudley's fat fingers reached out and snatched the toast from Harry's hand.

"Give that
BACK!" He snapped, charging forward...but he didn't get too far. Dudley's
other arm shot out with all the force of his boxing training behind it and
Harry found himself flying straight across the kitchen and into the
conservatory.

Only the conservatory
doors were not open.

Glittering glass shards
fell in front of Harry's eyes, shining like snowflakes before Harry lost
consciousness.

Like leaves we touch,
we learn

We once knew the story

"class=SpellE>Finate incantatem!"style='font-family:Verdana'> Severus snapped, and the mirror returned to its
natural state. The Potions Master had his fingers wrapped so tightly around his
wand that his knuckles were turning white. "I've seen enough." He
grated.

Lucius shook his head,
"No." He said, "The fact that his cousin is an overweight,
uncouth bully means nothing. We must know more."

Lucius fixed his own
silver/grey eyes on Snape's black ones, and raised an eyebrow, "You
seem...somewhat more upset by this, that I would have expected, Severus."
'considering who it is we're dealing with', he added
silently.

Snape shoved his wand
violently back into his robes and glared at Lucius.

"I dislike being lied
to," He said shortly, "Now, if you'll excuse me..." With that,
he walked out, the door slamming shut behind him.

Lucius considered that
cryptic remark as he unstopped a decanter of fine brandy and poured himself a
generous measure. He wondered who it was who had lied to Severus...and what
other surprises they would find lurking in the house of Potter's relatives.