Not Myself

Suppose I said

I am on my best behavior

And there are times

I lose my worried mind?

Would you want me when

I’m not myself?

Wait it out while I am somebody else?

Suppose I said

Colors change for no good reason

And words will go

From poetry to prose

Would you want me when

I’m not myself?

Wait it out while I am somebody else?

And I, in time, will come around

I always do for you

Suppose I said

You’re my saving grace

- John Mayer “Not Myself”

Not Myself by Saerry Snape

Chapter 8 – Recovery

“Out, Severus.  I will not have you hovering over my patients.”

“These are my students, Poppy.  And I wish to talk with the both of them.”

“Then I will call you when they are awake!”

“I think I shall wait,” said Snape, crossing his arms over his chest.

Madam Pomfrey gave him an icy glare then walked over to stand beside Harry’s bed.  Snape looked at the boy then found that he had no idea why the boy had attacked Draco.

Suddenly the door of the Hospital Wing opened and Niamh entered, followed by Ron.  Snape frowned at them and asked, “Miss O’Feir, Mr. Weasley, would you mind explaining why you are here?”

Niamh shifted a white bundle in her arms and Ron said, “We – we wanted to see if Harry was awake.”

Snape frowned then looked at the bundle.

“What is that?”

Niamh pulled the bundle closer and softly said, “Harry’s owl, sir.  Malfoy…”  She ducked her head, burying her face in the bundle.  Ron wrapped an arm about her shoulders in a comforting gesture.

Snape frowned and said, “So that’s why Potter attacked Malfoy.”

“Yes, sir,” said Ron.

“Well then, return to your common room, Mr. Weasley,” sneered Snape.  Ron scowled at him but left when Niamh gave him a gentle shove and a whispered, “Go.”  Casting one last glare at Snape, Ron squeezed Niamh’s shoulder reassuringly then left.

Snape looked at Niamh and said, “Take Potter’s owl down to Hagrid.  Then return to your common room.”

Niamh clutched the bundle of feathers tighter and asked, “Can I not stay?  I – I really wanted to talk to Harry.”

“You may talk to him later.  For now return to your common room.  And remember to take that owl down to Hagrid.”

Niamh nodded and began to leave but turned back before she got to the door.

“Why am I taking her to Hagrid?”

“To be buried.”

“Oh, sir!  I don’t think Harry would like that.”

Snape sighed and said, “Then return to the common room, Miss O’Feir.  I will come and get you when Potter is awake.”

“Thank you, sir.”  Niamh smiled sheepishly then ran out of the Hospital Wing.  Snape shook his head and looked over at Pomfrey, who was staring at him.  He snapped, “What are you looking at?”

Pomfrey simply shook her head and vanished into her office.

Snape sighed and sank into a chair, his eyes focused on the still forms of Draco and Harry.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

Harry groaned and lifted his head, pushing himself up onto his elbows.  Looking around, he saw that he was in the Hospital Wing.  Brushing his hair back out of his face he suddenly saw Snape sitting in a chair at the end of his bed.  Sitting straight up he said, “Professor!”

Snape nodded slightly and said, “Potter.”

“Sir, I…”

“I know what happened, Potter.  Your friends Miss O’Feir and Mr. Weasley informed me of it.”  Snape’s eyes narrowed as he continued, “Though I believe beating Mr. Malfoy up was not good choice to make.”

Harry nodded.

“I know, sir.  But…”

“He killed your owl.”

“Yes, professor.”

“Still no such excuse to brutalize him.”

Harry sighed and said, “I know I’ was’n righ’ ter do tha’ to ‘im.  But ‘e did kill Hedwig.”

Snape nodded, “And for that he will have detention with me for a month.  As will you.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good.  Report to me once you are out of here.”

“Yes, sir.”

Snape nodded then rose and began to leave but stopped when Harry asked, “Do ye know wha’ ‘appened ter Hedwig, professor?”

“Miss O’Feir took her.”

“Thank you, professor.”

Snape looked at Harry, avoiding the familiar green eyes.  With a sharp nod he walked quickly out of the Hospital Wing.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“Harry!”

Harry looked up to see Niamh rush in through the door, blue eyes narrowing when she saw Draco asleep in the bed beside Harry’s.  She then turned to her friend and said, “Professor Snape told me you were awake.”

Harry nodded then asked thickly, “Where’s Hedwig?”

“I – I gave her to Professor Snape.  He said he knew what to do.”

“I ‘ope ‘e does’n bury ‘er,” said Harry glumly, sinking down under the covers.

Niamh pulled herself up to sit on the edge of his bed and said, “Your accent’s different again.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  It’s back to the way it was when we first met.”

“’Ow interestin’.”

“Harry…”

“Sorry, Ni.  I’m jus’ sorry I didn’t ge’ a chance ter beat on Malfoy more.”

Niamh frowned then snarled, “I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to do something to him.  How could he do that to Hedwig?”

“Le’s na talk abou’ ‘i.”

“Okay.  So what do you want to talk about?”

“I doan know.  Ye pick somethin’.”

“Okay….  Erm….chess?”

“Na.”

“Hexes and curses?”

“Alrigh’.”

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“I believe this is yours, Potter.”

Harry and Niamh looked up from where they had been looking at Niamh’s book of hexes and curses to see Snape come in with a small statue.  Snape placed the statue on the table beside Harry’s bed then walked off, glancing once at the book open on Harry’s lap.

As soon as he was gone Harry reached around Niamh to pick up the statue and blinked several times.

“Ni.  Ni, look.”

“What?  Oh my…its…”

“Hedwig.”

Harry turned the small statue over in his hand.  It fit perfectly in his hand.  His owl was perfectly preserved, sitting on a tiny silver stand with her wings half opened as if she was about to take flight.  Harry smiled and sat the statue on the bedside table before turning back to Niamh and the book.

A/N: I think Sev is a bit OOC in this chapter.  What do you all think?

Chapter 9 – Draco Bashing and General Fun Things….

“Is he awake yet?”

“Na.”

“Good.”

“Ron?  NO!”

“What?  I’m just going to hit him.  Hey, where’d it go?  Harry, how’d you get it?”

Harry twirled the silver plate Ron was going to hit Draco with between his hands and replied, “I was a pickpocket on th’ stree’s.”

“Okay.  That explains that.  So, how long are you in here?”

Harry shrugged and sat the plate on the bedside table beside Hedwig’s statue.  Very reluctantly.

Niamh’s eyebrows knitted together as she frowned slightly.  She asked, “Are you okay?”

“As goo’ as I c’n ge’,” replied Harry darkly, casting a mild glare in Draco’s direction.  Ron shared the glare then turned back to Harry.

“So, what has Snape got you doing?”

“Detention fer a month.  Wi’ Malfoy.”

Niamh’s mouth dropped open and she gasped, “Is he mad?  You two in the same classroom after this?  Alone?  God, I don’t even want to know what he’s thinking!”

“Not very well?” suggested Ron, earning a Look from Niamh.

Harry shook his head at his two friends then turned to Niamh.  “Did ye see a’ the game?  Quirrell?”

Niamh nodded and Ron blinked.

“Hold on.  I saw Snape.  Hermione said he was jinxing your broom.”

Harry arched an eyebrow and asked, “Why wou’ Snape do tha’?  I’m in ‘is House.  And i’ was’n him.  I’ was Quirrell.”

“Quirrell?” said Ron in amazement.  Harry nodded.

“Yeh.  Ni saw ‘im.”

“I hexed him too!” said Niamh rather proudly.  Then she said softer, “He looked at me – God, it was horrible.  Worse than Snape when he looks at the Gryffindors.”

Ron blinked at her and breathed, “Your joking.”

“No!”

“That’s bad.  So, why did he do it?”

Both looked back at Harry who frowned.

“Tha’s the quest’n.  Why did ‘e do i‘?”

Niamh and Ron looked at each other then back at Harry.  None of them knew the answer to that question.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“You may go, Mr. Potter.”

Harry scooped up Hedwig’s statue and Niamh’s book from the table and left the Hospital Wing as quickly as he could.  For some reason he couldn’t stand to be in there.

As classes had already begun the halls were empty as he walked back down to the Slytherin dormitory.  The only living thing he saw on his way was Mrs. Norris, who rubbed up against his leg in a friendly manner.  Harry bent and petted the cat, which had taken a liking to him the first time she had seen him.  After a few moments he rose and walked on, Mrs. Norris following him until he entered the dungeons, where she strayed off down another hall.

Harry crept past Snape’s classroom, where the sounds of Snape berating some hapless Gryffindor third year trailed out.  Shaking his head, he walked on down to where the door to the dormitories was hidden.

“Serpens.”

The stone wall slid aside and Harry entered the dormitory, better known as Arx Serpens.  Heading into the first year boy’s dorms he put Hedwig’s statue and Niamh’s book into his trunk and muttered “Aromahola” over it before grabbing his bag and heading for class.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“Well, well, Potter.  Fancy seeing you here.”

Harry looked up from his lunch at the drawling voice and a sneer automatically crossed his features.  His eyes narrowed into slits of green fire as he coldly said, “Malfoy.”

Draco’s gray eyes widened for a moment, fear flashing in their depths, then it was gone.  He looked down his nose at Harry, as if the other boy was a piece of dirt.  Several of the Slytherins watched them with wide eyes, obviously remembering what happened last time the two of them were together.

Niamh’s voice broke the glaring contest they were having.

“Leave him, Harry.  He’s not worth it.”

Harry turned from Draco and looked into her blue eyes, saw her silently begging him not to get into another fight.  He nodded slightly and they both rose to leave.  As they left Draco called after them, “The great Harry Potter under the control of a Mudblood!  What will the world come to next?”

Harry’s temper shot up and he pulled out his wand, whirling around and aiming it straight at Draco’s head.  Gasps went up from around the hall and the Slytherins in-between him and Draco moved away quickly.  Niamh reached up and gently grabbed his wrist, pushing it firmly down as she wrenched his wand out of her hand.  She aimed a glare that could have killed at Draco if it were so possible, pocketed Harry’s wand, then frog-marched him out of the hall.

No one noticed Snape staring in wide-eyed wonder at Harry.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“That prat!  That complete and total braggart!  I’d like to curse that smirk off his sodding face!”

Harry watched Niamh as she paced from one end of the hearthrug to the other, raging about Draco’s behavior.  Everyone else was at dinner, the two of them having skipped it (Harry because of Draco and Niamh because she felt she would curse Draco the next time she saw him).

Suddenly the wall slid aside and Draco entered, grinning smugly at Niamh, who froze in midstep and glared daggers at him before pulling out her wand.  Draco looked at Harry and asked with a smirk, “Going to call her off?”

Harry looked up at Draco’s from under his dark hair – which had fallen in his face – and replied, “Na.  I actually migh’ like ter see yer brains all over da floor.”  He then looked at Niamh and said, “Try na ter ge’ ‘i on the chairs.  I rather like ‘em.”

Niamh smiled – a malicious little smile – and softly said, “Of course, Harry,” as Draco glared at Harry then stared at Niamh in horror.  The dark-haired girl smirked then waved her wand in a vaguely star-shaped pattern.

“Dolor Acidus!”

Draco went to his knees with a groan and clutched at his stomach.  His gray eyes blazed as he eyed Niamh with a look of pure hatred.  She simply smiled smugly in response then said, “That is what happens when you insult a Mudblood, Malfoy.  You’d do well to remember it next time.”

Harry smirked at her throwing Draco’s insult back in his face then rose to his feet gracefully.

“Ye’d better let ‘im go, Ni.  Would’n wan’ Professor Snape ter suspect anythin’s amiss.”

Niamh nodded and waved her wand again, this time in a reverse star pattern.  Draco rose shakily to his feet, his face red from the hex, and spat, “You’ll regret that, O’Feir.”

Harry stalked forward in decidedly Snape-like manner and grabbed Draco by the front of his robes, shoving him up against the wall and putting his face in the other boy’s.

“Ye do anyt’ing – and I mean anyt’ing – to Ni and I find out about it ye’ll end up the Hospital Wing again.  And ye won’t be ou’ till the end o’ the year.  Understand?”

Draco had apparently given up on trying not to look scared of Harry or he simply couldn’t help himself.  Gray eyes wide and face pallid, he nodded fiercely, either too scared to use his tongue or too afraid to.  He knew firsthand what Harry could do in a fight.

Harry sneered (yet again in a very Snape-like manner) and slung Draco around, throwing backwards into the chair he had just vacated.  He gave him the same look Draco had given him at lunch then turned to Niamh and said, “I’ll see yer later.”

Niamh nodded and smiled at him, the corners of her mouth twitching as it threatened to become a full-fledged grin.  Harry returned the smile then left Arx Serpens, hearing Draco coming behind him.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

As the two entered the Potions classroom, Snape looked up from grading a stack of papers.

“Ah.  I was wondering when you two would show up.  Malfoy, you’ll be sorting those ingredients over there into the ingredients store.  In alphabetical order.”

Draco looked at the large pile of various things and assundry then asked in a rather nasal tone, “What will Potter be doing, sir?”

Snape’s cold, black eyes turned on Draco and he snapped, “That is none of your business, Mr. Malfoy.  Now, to work!”

As soon as Draco was busily working, Snape turned to Harry.  He studied the boy for a moment then said, “You, Potter, shall be helping me.  Follow.”  Harry followed him into his office and saw a cauldron sitting on a table, purple flames dancing under it.  Snape pointed at a pile of snake fangs on the table and said, “Crush those, Potter, then chop up the Belladonna roots.  Even pieces, thank you.”

Harry nodded and silently got to work.  Snape took the ingredients as he finished them, giving him new instructions each time.  Soon they were done.  Or so Harry thought…

“Now, I need a drop of your blood, Potter.”

Harry blinked.

“Sir?”

“Your blood, Potter, your blood!  Give me your arm.”

Harry frowned but didn’t dare argue with a teacher; let alone Snape, the teacher he feared most – despite him being his Head of House – yet respected the most as well.  He rolled up his sleeve, revealing his very pale skin – which eleven years on the street had never darkened – and a good many scars, each showing up as a faded white or light fawn color.  Snape seemed to wince at this but Harry took no notice to this.  He watched as Snape ran a small knife across one of the smaller veins in his wrist and let the blood drip down into a bowl.  Snape watched him for a reaction the entire time but Harry’s face stayed impassive.  He was used to seeing his own blood – often staining the floor beneath him.

After what seemed hours, Snape healed the wound with a light tap from his wand and poured the blood into the potion.  It sizzled and turned from bright yellow to a brilliant shade of crimson.  As the two watched, it bubbled and frothed then turned a shade of emerald green.  The same color as Harry’s eyes.

Snape looked at him and said huskily, “Thank you, Potter.  You may leave.  Tell Mr. Malfoy he may as well.”

Harry nodded and left Snape’s office, one question rattling through his mind.

Why did Snape give him that odd, slightly proud yet fearful look?

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“Albus!  ALBUS!!”

The door flew open and Dumbledore peered out of it, his blue eyes wide behind his half moon spectacles.

“Severus?  What is all the commotion?”

Snape moved past him into the office and pulled a phial out of his cloak.  He held it up and said, “This is Prosapia Potion.  I brewed it just an hour ago.”  He added, “Potter helped me.”

Dumbledore’s eyebrows arched at this as he moved to sit back down behind his desk.

“Harry, Severus?”

Snape nodded.

“I – I used his blood in it.’

Dumbledore’s eyebrows arched even more now.

“Why?”

“You remember the little scene in the hall earlier between Harry and Draco?”

“How could one forget?”

“Do you also remember who was once in that same position?”

Dumbledore smiled and replied, “Of course.  Yourself and James.”

Snape nodded.

“You also noticed one other little factor that was the same.”

“Yes, Miss O’Feir did act remarkably as Lily did in that position.”

Snape turned his eyes to the floor and Dumbledore asked, “What is this all about, Severus?”

The dark eyes lifted and met the light blue.

“Harry is my son.”

Arx Serpens – Serpent’s Keep

Aromahola – Opposite of Alohomora (don’t know what in the heck that means…)

Dolor Acidus – Sharp Pain

Prosapia – Family

Chapter 10 – Revelations and Christmas Tidings

“Harry is my son.” – Chapter 9

“Are you sure, Severus?”

“The potion does not lie.  It turns the color of the child’s parents Houses.  Scarlet for Lily, Green for me.”

“Are you going to tell him?”

“I don’t know.  Should I?”

“Wait a bit, perhaps.  A year perhaps.  Though the time is however you feel you should tell him.”

“Mmm.”

“How is it that he looks like James?”

“He doesn’t.”

“I know.  Yet there is still a small resemblance.”

“A charm, I suppose.  They were Lily’s forte.”

“I know.”

“How did this happen?  We were only together once.”

“Twice.”

“How did you know?  Nevermind.  Don’t answer that.”

“You were together twice and Harry is the result, Severus.  He is your son.”

“I know.  Merlin’s beard, I’m a father.  I’m a father.”

A/N: It’s Albus, Severus, Albus, Severus, Albus, etc, etc, if ye want ter know

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“What are ye two doin’?”

Harry and Niamh walked into the Library and saw Ron and Hermione sitting over at a table with two other Gryffindors.  Ron looked up and grinned as they approached.

“Hey, Harry.”

“Do I not get a hello?” asked Niamh irritably.

“’Course you do.  Hey, Niamh.”

“Thank you, Ron.  Hold on a second.  Hermione?”

Hermione looked up and blinked.

“Niamh?”

Harry looked from one girl to the other and asked, “Ye two know each other?”

The two girls nodded.  Niamh said, “Yeah.”

“We live right beside each other,” said Hermione.

“Oooooh,” said both boys.

The two girls frowned at them and both snapped, “Shut up.”

Harry chuckled then asked, “So, what’re ye two lookin’ fer?”

Hermione replied, “Nothing,” rather too quickly.

Harry narrowed his eyes.

“Okay.  Now I know yer lookin’ fer somethin’ tha’s na goo’.  Ron, wha’ is it?”

Ron looked at Hermione, who glared at him, then back to Harry, who also glared at him.

“They’re looking up something Hermione heard from Hagrid.”

“Niamh!”

“What?” snapped Niamh.  “This is Harry.  You can trust him.”

“But…”

“But nothing.  Harry, can’t you be trusted?”

Harry smirked and replied, “On’y to a poin’.”

“Be serious.”

“I am bein’ serious.”

Niamh rolled her eyes and turned back to Hermione.  “Nevermind him.  He can be trusted.”

“Ye do remember that I’m a pi’pocket don’t ye, Ni?”

“Yes, Harry.”

“Tha’ means I can’t be trusted.”  He grinned at Hermione and added, “In some situations tha’ is.”

Hermione smiled weakly in return then sighed and said, “Alright, alright.  I’ll tell you.”

“Excellent!” cried Niamh and pulled out a chair.  Harry sat on the table next to Ron, ignoring the look Madam Pince was giving him.  Hermione looked around them then began to explain in a low voice.

“See, Niamh’s parents wouldn’t let her come here.”

“Sodding tramps.”

“Be quiet, Ni.  Anyway, Professor McGonagall came and explained everything to them and they let her come.  But on the condition that someone else came and got her.  So, Hagrid came and got the both of us since we live right beside each other.”

“Is there a point to this?”

“Be quie’, Ron.”

“Hagrid took us to Diagon Alley to buy our things about two weeks before start of term.”

“That’s when we were there!”

“Shut ‘i, Ron!”

“Thank you, Harry.  Anyway, Hagrid took us there and got something from one of the vaults at Gringotts.  Number 713 to be exact.  Now, a few days into term, Ron received a copy of the Daily Prophet that said that someone had tried to break into Gringotts.  To get to vault number 713.”

“Wha’ cou’ be so important?”

“I’m getting to that.  Now, just after the Quidditch match, I talked to Hagrid.  And he said that whatever he took from Gringotts was between Professor Dumbledore and someone called Nicolas Flamel.”

“And you and Ron have been looking for that ever since?” asked Niamh.

“Yeah, well, and we also ran into a three-headed dog on the third floor,” muttered Ron.

“You were on the third floor?  The FORBIDDEN floor?”

Ron and Hermione nodded.

“How?”

“Got lost,” replied Ron.

Niamh sighed then Harry asked, “Wha’ does the dog ‘ave ter do with Flamel?”

“It was standing on something.  A trap door.  I think that whatever Hagrid took out of the Gringotts vault is down there,” replied Hermione.

“And wha’ is ‘i?”

“A Sorcerer’s Stone.”

Harry blinked.  “The stone tha’ c’n turn anythin’ inter gold and produce the Elixir o’ Life?”

“You’ve heard about it?”

“Ye think the only thing on me mind is Quidditch?”

Hermione flushed.

“Its na.  I read plen’y.  So, who do ye think i’ is?”

“Who is?” asked Hermione bewilderedly.

“Tryin’ ter get the Stone!”

“I don’t know.”

“Mmm.  I think i’s Quirrell.”

“Quirrell?” cried three voices.

“Stuttering Quirrel?” said Ron.

“Quirrel who’s scared of his own shadow?” asked Niamh

“Harry, how can it be Professor Quirrell?  He’s….”

“He’s what?” asked Harry, leaning forward with narrowed eyes and a severe expression on his face.  “Too innocent?”

“Yeah, that stutter is plum scary,” said Ron jokingly.

Harry scowled at him then growled, “Fools!  Never judge a boo’ by i’s cover.  Firs’ rule in pi’pocketry.”  He continued, softer, “Quirrell tried ter kill me a’ the Quidditch match.  I doan trus’ ‘im as far as I c’n throw ‘im.  Which ain’ far.”

There was a long silence between the four then Hermione began, “It could have been…”

“What?” snapped Harry, turning towards her.  “Snape?  I think na.  Me own Head o’ House tryin’ ter kill me?  Thin’ again.”

“But he was muttering…”

“A coun’er curse mos’ likely.”

“But a jinx…”

“Does na ‘ave ter be spoken!”

Hermione’s eyes went wide.

“Quirrell was watching you rather closely.”

Harry smiled and said, “Ye see?”

Hermione nodded and Harry grinned widely at her.  He then looked down at his watch and said, “C’mon, Ni.  We’ve go’ Transfiguration in ten minutes.”

Niamh nodded and the two of them picked up their bags and left.  Ron and Hermione walked out after them and as they headed down the hallway Ron called, “See you two in Potions!”

Harry waved back over his shoulder in reply and he and Niamh hurried on.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

A few weeks later the Christmas holidays had come.  Harry and Niamh were the only Slytherins left in Arx Serpens and they found out that Ron and his brothers were all alone in Gryffindor Tower.

Harry was woken up Christmas morning by Niamh rushing into the boy’s dorm and leaping onto his bed, yelling at him at the same time.

“Harry!  Harry, wake up!  It’s Christmas!”

Harry opened his eyes blearily and look up into Niamh’s bright blue one’s.

“Wha’?”

“Christmas, Harry!  Presents!”

Harry shot awake.

“I ‘ave presen’s?”

“Yeah!  C’mon!”

Harry rushed into the common room, where a pile of presents was placed under the Christmas tree that had been placed there.  He grinned at Niamh, who grinned back.  Then the two of them dived into the pile.

Niamh received a box of Chocolate Frog’s from Ron, a book on the Dark Arts from Hermione, a book called Advanced Hexes and Curses from Harry, and a fifty-pence piece from her parents.  She scowled at it then tossed it into the fire.  Harry shook his head then handed her another of her presents, which was a tiny snake statue from her older sister.

Harry got a box of Chocolate Frog’s from Ron as well, a book on Quidditch from Hermione (“Thin’s I’ve go’ Quidditch on the brain,” muttered Harry), an emerald green sweater and tin of homemade fudge from Mrs. Weasley, a box of their own joke items from Fred and George, a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans from Ginny, and a book on hexes and curses from Niamh.

“Hey, Harry, this is yours too.”

Harry picked up the feather-light package and opened it.  A card lay inside, words written on it in a loopy swirl that he didn’t recognize.

Your father left this in my possession before he died.  It is time it was returned to you.

Use it well.

A Very Merry Christmas to you.

Niamh craned her neck and asked, “What is it?”

“I doan know.  A cloak I thin’.”

“Let’s see it then.”

Harry ripped the paper away from the soft, silvery material, letting it cascade down to the floor.  He slipped it about his shoulders and heard a gasp from Niamh.

“Wha’?”

“Harry, look down!”

He looked.

“I’s an invisibility cloak!  I read abou’ ‘im!  They’re really rare.”

Niamh stared wide-eyed at him and gasped, “Who would have sent you that?”

“I doan know.  There was’n a name on the card.”

“Wow.  I bet Malfoy hasn’t got one of these!”

Harry grinned and took off the cloak, sitting it down beside him.  He bet Draco didn’t either.

“Okay, that’s it, I think.  Hold on, where’d that raven come from?”

“Wha’ raven?”

Something landed on Harry’s shoulder and he turned to see a raven sitting there, gray talons clinging to his pajama top, the pitch-black feathers glistened with rainbow highlights.  A pair of pale yellow eyes looked into his own then the raven held out one of its legs, to which a small roll of parchment was tied.  Harry untied it and looked at it, not recognizing the spidery scrawl with which it was written except that it looked somewhat like his own writing.

A replacement for your owl.  He is at your command and can carry messages as well as any owl.

Merry Christmas.

“Wow,” breathed Harry, looking at the raven on his shoulder.

“What is it?” asked Niamh.  Harry handed her the note silently and she read it.

“Wow.  A raven.  Who do you think sent him?”

Harry ran his hand over the silky soft feathers on the raven’s breast and said, “I doan know.  But e’s wonderful.  I wish I knew who sent ‘im so I cou’ thank ‘em.  E’ won’t replace Hedwig but ‘e is beautiful.”

Niamh smiled and asked, “What are you going to name him?”

Harry instantly replied, “Jardin,” then blinked.  He looked at the raven sitting on his shoulder, who looked back with his pale eyes.  Eyes that were a tad too intelligent for a mere bird.

< Too intelligent for a mere bird is right.  I am not a mere bird. >

Harry blinked.

You can understand us?

Jardin nodded.

< Of course.  I am a very special raven.  The only one in existence that can talk. >

And your name is Jardin?  That was you that suggested it, right?

< Yes.  And you are Harry Potter.  My new owner. >

Yes.

< A pleasure.  And who is the lady? >

Niamh.  Niamh O’Feir.  She’s my friend.

< I see.  How about something to eat? >

You go up to the Owlery for that.  What…how am I supposed to keep you?  We’re only allowed to have an owl, a cat, or a toad.

< All taken care of. >

How do you know?

< I simply do.  Niamh is looking at you. >

Harry looked from Jardin to Niamh, who was staring at him.

“Wha’?”

“You…nevermind.  Let’s go get something to eat.”

Harry nodded and gathered up his Christmas presents, heading back into the dorm.  A few minutes later he was back in the common room wearing a pair of dark Muggle jeans and Mrs. Weasley’s sweater.  He had tied his hair back in a ponytail, as it had grown beyond shoulder length, and Jardin sat on his shoulder.  Niamh appeared a moment later in jeans and a black sweater and they left.

< Food? >

Yes, Jardin.  We’re going to eat.

< Anything for me? >

I suppose…

< I will go to the Owlery if you wish. >

No.  Stay.  I want to show you to Ron.

< Who is he? >

My other friend.

< I see.  He stays somewhere else? >

Yes.  He’s in Gryffindor.  Me and Niamh are in Slytherin.

< I see. >

Jardin was silent after that and Harry and Niamh talked about Quidditch all the way up to Gryffindor Tower.  Harry smiled at the Fat Lady and asked, “Is Ron still insi’e?”

The portrait smiled warmly at him (most of them did) and replied, “Yes, dearie, he and those brothers of his are still inside.”

“C’n I get ‘im?”

The Fat Lady nodded and the portrait swung open.  Harry entered and saw Ron laughing as the twins shoved a sweater with a ‘P’ on it over Percy’s head, knocking his glasses askew.  Harry laughed and all four of them looked up.

“Harry!  What are you doing in here?  And what’s that?”

Harry gestured at the Fat Lady’s portrait and said, “She le’ me in.  An’ this is Jardin.”

“Wow.  Where’d he come from?”

“Doan know.  ‘Oever sent ‘im didn’ sign the note.”

Ron grinned and Jardin asked, < Is this your friend? >

Yes, Jardin.  This is Ron Weasley.  Those are his brothers Fred and George – they’re twins – and Percy.  Percy’s the one with glasses and Fred and George have the first letter of their names on their sweaters.

< I see. >

Harry grinned and said, “C’mon.  Le’s go downstairs an’ see the Hall.”

Ron only grinned wider and followed him out past the Fat Lady, Fred and George dragging a trapped Percy along after them, earning laughter from Niamh as soon as she saw him.