Of Sight and Sound

Chapter Five

Professor Severus Snape, former Death Eater turned spy, now the most feared teacher at Hogwarts School refused to admit (even to himself) that he was hopelessly lost.

He hated the Forbidden Forest. No, he more than hated the Forest, he was deathly afraid of the forest.

He'd always hated the outdoors. Inside, down in his dungeons, he was in control. He controlled who entered, he controlled whether it was warm or chilly, he controlled whether it was light or dark. That was his domain.

But out in the forest he had no control over anything. Creatures could attack at any moment, totally immune to death glares and cruel words. He couldn't control the temperature or the weather. And Severus Snape hated not being in complete control of whatever situation he was in.

He held his wand at the ready in front of him but planned to use it only if necessary. Many of the more unsavory creatures of the forest were attracted towards any magic that normally didn't occur there. And the last thing he wanted to do was attract any unwanted attention to himself.

But it also meant that he wouldn't be able to use a simple locator spell to find his two wayward students. That definitely made the search all the more difficult. They could be anywhere.

He considered returning to the school to get the assistance of other staff members. But he knew what would happen if the other teachers found out about this little escapade.

He'd lose his job quicker then you could say house elf. Possibly facing charges from the Ministry. And worse, he'd have to face the wrath of one Lucius Malfoy. He'd be lucky to escape with all his limbs intact.

No, better to fix his own mess, maybe with a little bribery to keep the two boys quiet. Even though, a memory charm would be a more viable option.

He decided to worry about that later. Right now he had to concentrate of finding Potter and Malfoy and getting them all out of the forest undamaged.

Fallen leaves hid any trace of possible footprints so Snape just headed off in whatever looked like the clearest path. His cloak still managed to snag on low branches and dead leaves got caught in his hair.

After no more then five minutes Snape was thoroughly frustrated and angry; but mostly at himself.

What had supposed to be an effective and clever exercise, meant both to punish and educate, had turned into an unmitigated disaster. And he could only blame himself for that.

But as always, when he was angry with himself he took it out on others. Tonight it was Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy who suffered. Even though Snape himself couldn't say he was having a jolly good time either.

Snape cursed Merlin himself when his forward momentum was suddenly stopped, his cloak becoming caught in the branches of a small, but vicious looking bush. Depositing his wand back into his robe pocket, he started tug at his cloak, hoping to pull it free. But the plant seemed to wrap it gnarled branches even tighter around fabric. In fact, the more he struggled to pull it free, the more it became entangled. After putting up a good fight (this was his favorite cloak!) he finally discarded it and let the bush have its way.

Great, now he had no cloak. Normally he didn't mind the cold too much, but he found it unbearably frigid in the forest.

He looked, with sudden realization, at the article of clothing he had hanging over his arm. Potter's cloak. With a sigh and a shiver he swung the too small cloak over his shoulders, cursing the boy for being so scrawny. It barely covered his shoulders.

Snape set forth again, trying to ignore the red and gold insignia, which seemed to be beaming from the collar of Potter's cloak. He found wearing anything donning Gryffindor paraphernalia degrading.

He had a lot of house pride; it was sort of required when he was the head teacher. He firmly believed that students in Slytherin house had a lot more potential then to become practitioners of dark arts and followers of evil lords, as everyone seemed to expect from them. It was his personal mission to guide as many students as possible away from such paths. Hopefully teaching them to use their cunning elsewhere. One student at the top of his list for such guidance was Draco Malfoy. The boy had great potential, if only Snape could get him from under the thumb of his father.

If only he could find the boy and get him out of the forest in one piece.

He stopped dead, tense, his skin prickling.

Something was watching him. He could feel it. He swung around, digging through his robe pockets for his wand. He brandished it before him when he found it.

His eyes swept the surrounding trees, searching for whatever was amiss.

They locked with a pair of orange eyes that were fixed intently on him. Eerily silent for something so large, the creature advanced on him.

When it came into better view Snape recognized it. It was one of the cockatrices.

He frantically searched his memory to recall what Hagrid had told him about them.

The half giant had assured him that they were harmless, unless they felt threatened. And wandering around in unfamiliar territory was enough to make anyone tense and frightened.

He leveled his wand as the beast approached, baring its teeth (it had teeth!)

It definitely looked to Snape like the creature was about to attack him. Since he had managed to attract a monster without using any magic he supposed it didn't matter if he used a little now.

"Stupefy!" he cried confidently. He was a fully trained wizard and had no doubt to his skill.

He was indeed quite baffled when his wand issued not the tell tale beam of light but a rude sound accompanied by small puff of some noxious smelling smoke.

He looked at his wand in disbelief, coughing through the smoke. He gave himself a quick mental kick in his backside.

It wasn't his wand. He must have forgotten to take Potter's and Malfoy's wands out of his pockets earlier.

Snape and his own wand were like one. He had a hard time using another. The one he now held was longer and more flexible. It had to be Draco's. It was temperamental like the boy himself.

A warning grunt brought him back to reality.

The cockatrice was closer now, moving quickly.

Panicking slightly, Snape decided to take the only avenue he could think of at that moment.

He ran.

He turned and ran as fast as he could.

Fortunately for him he was more nimble in the underbrush and exposed roots of the forest than the beast. It wasn't long before he had lost the cockatrice.

He paused to catch his breath. He realized suddenly how out of shape he was. A little too much time spent in front of a cauldron.

As Snape's labored breathing returned to normal his ears caught a sound. Something that sounded like a human voice carried by the wind.

The boys! It had to be.

He moved towards what he thought was the general direction of the voices. Stepping cautiously, wanting to make sure before he called out.

"Ouch! Watch it!"

That was definitely Potter's voice, raised in anger.

Snape was about to call out to them when another sound reached his ears.

They weren't alone.

Something was between him and the boys. His every instinct telling him that whatever it was had picked up on the scent of his two students and was stalking them. And not to give them a great big hug.

He hastily came up with a plan to press his advantage of being behind, hence not being ~downwind~, assuming whatever was in pursuit of Potter and Malfoy relied on scent. Hoping that he could sneak up behind it and get rid of it with no harm coming to his students.

Snape searched his pockets for his own wand. Finding it, he set out as stealthily as he could.

He didn't get far. The cockatrice was back, blocking his path, looking angrier then before.

And it had bought a friend.

Two very angry cockatrices were bearing down on him now.

Snape again leveled his wand. He just hoped he could get himself out of this mess in time to rescue his students.