The Master Plan

Chapter 17: The Afterglow a Kiss Brings, a Snake, a Name...These Are a Few of my Favorite Things...

Snape ignored Harry, riffling through Trelawney's possessions like an expert burglar. Harry trailed behind, unable to take an interest in the search. There was too much adrenaline rushing through his body, making him feel dizzy and desirous and dazed. He absently ran his hands over a deck of tarot cards, mentally swearing like a sailor. 'I hate Minerva McGonagall. I hate Transfiguration teachers and Divination teachers and batty old women who butt into other peoples business, and I hate closets with doors that refuse to stick tight when you need it, and I hate. I hate. The Eiffel Tower. Because it's French. And communal bedrooms and bathrooms. And. And. Mosquitoes. And ink bottles that leak until they've built up a crust around the top, and then you can't open them unless you really pry, and then the top finally flies off, and you've got ink all over yourself and your work and your--"

"Mister Potter," Snape interrupted his internal tirade. "If you don't mind being useful for a change, I need you to see if you can get under this cupboard."

Harry goggled at him. "Why?"

"Don't. Ask. Me. Questions. Just do it!"

Harry got down on his hands and knees and peered into the darkness. "I can't see anything," he complained.

"Then use your wand to give yourself some light, you undisciplined dimwit!"

"Lumos!" Harry grunted, and pushed his head under the cupboard. The light did not help very much; all it seemed to do was define the shadows. He thrust his wand in front of him, but this put the light in his eyes and made it hard to see anything at all.

"Do you see anything?" Snape asked.

"No," Harry grunted. "But it might help if you told me what I was supposed to be looking for." There seemed to be a mouse hole deep under the cupboard, and Harry wondered vaguely if something could have rolled into it. If it was small, perhaps.

"I don't know what we're looking for," the professor responded tartly. "A connection, perhaps."

"A connection?" Harry's mind called up images of plugs and outlets, and wondered if Mr. Weasley had been about.

"Do you see anything or not, Potter?" the man shot at him. Harry distantly heard him give a loud sigh. "If you can't see anything, you ought to...back out from under there and turn around." Harry only half heard him, and wondered why Severus sounded so...over-stimulated. There was something else here...if he could only concentrate...

"I don't see anything," he replied, voice muffled as he tried to get as far under the cupboard as possible. Who knew there was so much space beneath it? "...but I think I hear something," he added.

"What? What do you mean, you hear something? What do you hear?" The man was suddenly focused. Snape clambered down on the floor beside Harry. "I don't hear anything. What does it sound like?"

Harry tried to concentrate, his head cocked to the side. Severus was staring at him intently. "It...sounds like...a little voice," he murmured, searching for a way to describe it.

"What the bollocks do you mean, a little voice? Are you implying leprechauns? Are you listening to your conscience? What? What the devil are you talking about?"

"Shhh!" Harry remonstrated. "I'm trying to listen!"

"Well, what's it saying?" Snape hissed.

Harry's eyes were unfocused as he tried to explain... "Something about mice...hungry...worried...leave me alone, what's the light, away from the light...hungry...where are the mice..."

Suddenly Snape grabbed Harry by his ankles and yanked him out from under the cupboard, causing the youth to yelp in alarm. Then the man threw himself down in Harry's place, rummaging around beneath the cupboard. Harry heard him mutter, "Accio snake," and give a muted shout of triumph. He wriggled out from beneath the desk, one hand holding a small green garter snake in one hand. "I knew it! I knew there was something. I got you, you little bugger!" He shook the snake a little, a wicked leer of victory across his face.

"Stop it!" Harry interjected, grabbing the man's arm. "You're scaring it! It hasn't done anything--er. Has it?" he added, thinking of Nagini. Could Voldemort be controlling this snake? But it was such a pathetic little thing, and obviously scared out of its mind. He delicately pried the serpent from his teacher's grasp. "Here, let me."

Snape rolled his eyes, but restrained himself from commenting on Harry's over-sensitivity toward the reptile. "If you could tell me what it's saying, and translate a few minor points I'd like to make..."

"He's awfully upset..." Harry responded, but stopped at the severe look the man was giving him. Quietly, he tried to soothe the snake's fears, telling it they were not going to hurt it, but would appreciate its time if it could answer a few questions, and might even be able to find it something to eat. He glanced up when Severus made an impatient sound. "Erm. I think he'd be willing to answer a few questions," Harry told him. "Though I don't know how helpful he'll be. He isn't very bright, and seeing the world from about an inch above the ground..."

"That will be fine," Snape told him. "Ask it how it got here."

Harry hissed the question, and a few others before looking up and saying, "He says he and some others were brought here in a basket by a woman with giant eyes. Er. I think he means Trelawney."

"Ah ha! She never said a word! I knew it! I knew it! She's expressly forbidden to practice Zoomancy! And how did it end up in the mouse hole?"

This took an extended period of questioning, as Harry couldn't quite understand the chain of events from the snake's view, and didn't know exactly what he was trying to find out. Finally, he bit his lip. "It was dark, night I guess, and there was an explosion. There were sharp...objects everywhere, and most of the other snakes, er, died. Or ran away. He tried to run away as well, but he was confused, and he doesn't think he went the right way..."

"Yes, yes, yes. Continue the heartbreaking tale of a snake far from home later. Did he notice anything unusual before the explosion? Any voices? Any magical vibrations?" Snape was leaning forward eagerly, eyes shining, and Harry had a hard time dragging himself back to reality long enough to ask the snake anything.

He was surprised by the snake's reply, and told his teacher, "Well, one of the larger snakes started acting oddly around that time. He...sat straight up, like, and kept talking about having to find someone. Find him quickly. Get near him. And then he took off for the exit, the door I guess, but then Trelawney stepped on him, and then everything exploded."

"Ha!" Snape burst out, looking sinfully pleased. "I knew it! I knew they had to have missed something." He strode purposefully toward the doorway, bridled energy blistering in every step. "Come along, come along; I haven't got all night," he threw at Harry over his shoulder. Harry, panting although he was not exerting himself, hurried to stay near the man. "We'll go and deposit your new friend outside before heading...before...I need to go back to my chambers. I need...you could end detention early, if you like," he suggested offhandedly.

Harry gave him a dark look. "You're not getting rid of me that easily," he returned. "I want to know what the bloody hell is going on around here. Look," he added, grabbing hold of the man's sleeve and forcing them both to a halt in the hallway. "This involves me somehow. It almost always does, so don't go on about how I think the world revolves around me. I'm not asking for everything. I trust you to know how much to tell me, but I also trust you to realize that I can't protect myself from something I don't see coming. I need to know enough to defend myself. Help me do that. Please?"

Snape looked indecisive. At last he relented enough to say, "Very well, Potter. We can discuss it in my chambers."

Harry tucked the snake under his arm and said, "Well, lead the way then."

The Potions Master stared. "I thought you would want to release your new acquaintance in the gardens so...he...could...return to his little family?" he suggested, brows raised.

"Severus," Harry replied warningly, "there are at least fifty-two varieties of carnivorous plants outside of Sprout's greenhouses. Any one of them would be happy to make a midnight snack out of my little snake. I'm sure we can do better for him than that. At least get him a place to sleep for the night, and something to eat..." Harry trailed off, looking up at the man hopefully. Severus looked peeved. His mouth twisted a little, and Harry stuck out his lower lip and fluttered his eyes a couple of times, giving the man the most innocent, beseeching look he could conjure. It was cheesy, he knew, but Severus made him feel cheesy. Or close to. Like a black and white movie, where there was smoking and overacting and long, passionate kisses, and the heroine's foot would kick up behind her while she swooned in the arms of her lover...

Snape looked utterly furious for a moment, before growling, "Fine. Bring the disease-ridden animal along, what do I care?" He marched off toward the dungeons, still fuming. "He's going to be your responsibility, Harry, d'you hear me? You're the one that will have to feed him and clean up after him and take him on walkies. I have enough damn things to do without worrying about that--that cold-blooded little monster." Harry trailed after him, grinning widely. The whole lecture would have been a whole lot more intimidating if the man hadn't referred to Harry by his given name. A kiss, a name, a little snake...maybe that last bit was a little Freudian of him, but on the whole, Harry wouldn't have traded this evening for a sackfull of Galleons.