Birds of a Feather
Chapter 14: The Aurors Arrive
Summary: After Fawkes rescues Severus Snape in the Shrieking Shack, the phoenix decides to stick around.
The usual disclaimer applies. See Chapter 1.
The celebration was in full swing when Captain Clark came into the passengers' lounge. Seabiscuit had brought out the good scotch and brandy, and Severus and Lydia were the only ones showing any restraint. Severus was in the habit of being cautious with alcohol due to his many years as a spy, and Lydia was just being sensible.
"I told Knight Lines that we'd been enchanted by Sirens, but we managed to escape," Clark announced. "I told them we'll need a few days off to recover. They can have Boat 4 cover for us."
The ship communicated with Knight Lines via an enchanted scroll. When the captain wrote on it, his words would appear on a sister scroll in their office, and then their reply would appear on his.
"I want you people to get some sleep," he told them. "I don't want to deal with a bunch of hangovers tomorrow."
"Aye, Cap'n! Aargh!" Biscuit said, raising his glass. He was back to playing pirate again.
Realizing that it was hopeless, Clark took Severus aside. "Can you help me set some wards on the ship? I don't think anyone is going to be up to standing watch tonight. We're all exhausted, and on top of that, the rest of them are half drunk now, too. I've anchored us off the Orkney Islands, and we should be safe enough here. And by the way, you've been promoted. You're officially our Security Officer now. I told Knight Lines we couldn't have escaped from the Sirens without you." He winked.
For a moment, 'Slade' almost smiled. "Let's get on with it, then," he said.
~~~~~
Severus fell asleep with his wand beside his pillow. The hijacking had forcefully reminded him not to let his guard down. It made him think of Moody: "Constant vigilance!" He had disliked the old Auror, but the man had been right about that.
Surprisingly, he had a pleasant dream. He was at Hogwarts, seated in the Headmaster's place at the head table. He looked out across the Great Hall, watching the students eating and talking happily among themselves. He felt very pleased and contented. It was so different from his actual experience as Headmaster. He awoke wishing it had been real.
Fawkes was already awake, and Severus opened the porthole so the bird could go for a morning flight. The rest of the crew was still asleep, so he went to the mess and helped himself to coffee and a bagel. Seabiscuit made much better coffee than the Hogwarts house-elves ever had.
He found several issues of The Quibbler waiting for him on the table. An owl must have brought them while they were ashore trying to rescue Fawkes. Reluctantly, he picked one up and started to read. Kingsley was now Minister of Magic. Minerva was Headmistress at Hogwarts, and repairs were going well. Lucius and Draco Malfoy had been released from Azkaban and were now under house-arrest at Malfoy Manor. He was reading excerpts from Skeeter's interview with Narcissa when Lydia came in to fix herself some tea.
"Poisonous Plants of Amazonia? How interesting," she said, glancing at one of the books that he'd brought from the dealer's cottage.
Severus raised an eyebrow and looked up at her. "Would you mind telling me exactly how you convinced Mr Shunpike of the error of his ways?" he asked. He needed to know if they could really trust Shunpike. Yes, the lad had helped them, but it might be prudent to lock him in the cargo hold anyway.
"It wasn't particularly difficult," she told him. "I just waited until the others had left, and then I followed him to the kitchen. He began rummaging in the fridge, probably looking for a cold one, with his wand stuck in his back pocket. I landed behind him, changed to my usual form, and snatched his wand. He hit his head on the fridge shelf and knocked a jug of pineapple juice down his back. I had to cast a cleaning spell on him." She chuckled at the memory.
"Anyway, he told me that he wanted to go somewhere where he could make a new start. He planned to slip away from the others as soon as he could after they left the British Isles, but there hadn't been a chance to do it yet. So I told him that his best bet was to help us, and that after we got the boat back, we'd drop him off wherever he wanted. He was a bit reluctant at first, but he could see the sense of it. You aren't going to turn him in, are you?"
"No, but I don't want him causing any trouble," Severus told her. "I'll have a talk with him."
Captain Clark appeared at the door and interrupted them. "We've got to get the crew up. Knight Lines rejected my request for time off. And guess what they want us to do. We're to go pick up some animals from some Aurors in northern Scotland, and return them to their native habitats." He laughed. "We can drop off you and Jack, too, if you want, Lydia."
"No hurry," she said. "This has been the most interesting vacation we've ever had."
~~~~~
Stan was a bit hung over. He was on his way back from the head when Severus confronted him.
"Please step into the cargo hold for a moment, Mr. Shunpike," he said ominously. "I'd like a word with you in private."
Stan looked alarmed, but he did as he was told. "Please don' turn me in or obliviate me or nuffink, sir," he said. "I swear I won' make no trouble for you. I just want to start over. I never had no chance. I wasn't smart or nuffink. That's why I wanted to be one of 'em. I wanted people to fink I woz important."
Severus snorted. "You're lucky you didn't get yourself killed."
"I don' know what to do. I weren't no good at school. That's why I quit. There weren't no point in it. You know. I woz in your class."
"Actually, you were good with your hands. You prepared your ingredients well, and your brewing skills were adequate. If you'd just paid attention and put some effort into studying, you could have done acceptable work. I told you that. You have to do the work. There are no shortcuts. At least there aren't for most of us."
It still angered him to remember how everything had always been so easy for James Potter. Potter never seemed to study, but the teachers were always praising him. He had it all: a rich family, pure blood, good looks, athletic talent, and all the girls he wanted. Even Lily, in the end. And he never seemed to make any effort. Severus had studied day and night, and nobody really cared. Even Lily, in the end. But it had paid off. Severus had become a skilled and powerful wizard, while James' complacency had gotten him killed. When the fool had been struck dead, he didn't even have his wand in his hand. It was time to forget James Potter.
"Yeah, some blokes get all the breaks," Stan agreed. "Everyfing always goes right for 'em."
Severus scowled at him. "Perhaps, but your problem is that you believed you couldn't do it, so you never even tried. You were defeated by your own attitude. Dropping out of school was stupid. You'll have to get to work now if you want a decent life. It won't happen by itself." He wondered how many times he'd given that advice when he was Head of Slytherin House. He wondered if many students had actually listened.
"I'll try," Stan said quietly. He still had no idea what he was going to do.
"See that you do," Severus told him. "However, we have a more immediate problem at the moment. The boat has been ordered to pick up those animals from the dealer's barn. The place will be swarming with Aurors. I strongly suggest that you stay in the passengers' quarters until we tell you it's safe.
Stan didn't need to be told twice. He vanished down the hall.
~~~~~
Severus knew that, like Stan, he should probably stay below decks, but he was part of the crew and he intended to help with the work. Simple Glamour spells should be sufficient. After all, the Aurors wouldn't be looking for him. Everyone knew that Severus Snape was dead.
He whitened his teeth and straightened them a bit, but not too much - he didn't want to look like Gilderoy Lockhart, with his perfect, sparkling white teeth. That might attract attention. He lightened his eyes to medium brown, and turned his hair brown, too. It had gotten fairly long and he tied it back. It had been distressingly fluffy lately, probably because of that fruity-smelling muggle shampoo that Kat had given him. It was very un-Snape-like, and under the circumstances, that was good.
The most important thing was to disguise his nose. Most of the younger Aurors would have been his students or his classmates, and they'd be sure to recognize his nose. Flicking his wand, he made it appear as nondescript as possible. He had difficulty disguising the scars on his neck, however. There was still too much residual dark magic in them, so he made sure that his turtleneck sweater covered them, and he was ready to go.
~~~~~
The Aurors had arrived the previous night, not long after the Dark Mark had appeared in the sky. It had caused a major alarm. They were surprised to find that no one was actually dead, although there were five people lying in cages in a barn, snoring loudly.
The Auror in charge, Morris, increased the light from his wand and bent down to take a look at them. "It's three of those Death Eaters that escaped from Azkaban. Maybe the fourth is around here somewhere. I don't recognize the other two. You trainees, see if you can find some sort of lights in this place, and then go get that gorilla and bring it in here. And be careful. We don't know if it's safe here yet. The rest of you, start searching the area. Someone must have put these guys in these cages. I'm going to wake 'em up and try to find out what happened here."
~~~~~
It was mid-morning and fog was still lying over the area when Severus apparated to shore with Captain Clark and Kat. They proceeded to the cottage where several Aurors were packing up illegal potion ingredients and other evidence.
"Would you look at this stuff?" one of the Aurors asked the others. "Human body parts, and pieces of endangered species! I hope they lock those guys up and throw away the key."
Auror Morris had questioned the prisoners for most of the night and learned absolutely nothing useful. They were either very confused, or very good liars, or both. Eventually he had given up. He came over and introduced himself to Captain Clark. "We have two wyverns, two orangutans, and a panda cub for you. My trainees are preparing them for transport. Come to the barn and I'll show you."
When they entered the barn, the prisoners were no longer there. Auror Morris mentioned that they had been picked up and taken to Azkaban, which was good. Even with the best obliviation, some shadows of memory always remain, and seeing all of them again so soon might have triggered dangerous feelings of déjà vu.
"We'll need some food for the animals, and some of those empty cages," Clark told Morris. "We can't have these creatures running all over the boat like it's Noah's Ark." Clark's mom had told him the story of Noah's Ark when he was a kid, and it had been one of his favorites.
"No problem," Morris said. "We'll shrink down the food and cages for you. We've put sleeping spells on the animals so you can take them side-along and apparate back to the boat. You'll have to make a couple of trips, though."
Severus hadn't been paying any attention to the trainees, but when they came over levitating the sleeping orangs, he nearly had a heart attack. The trainees were Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.
To be continued …
Summary: After Fawkes rescues Severus Snape in the Shrieking Shack, the phoenix decides to stick around.
The usual disclaimer applies. See Chapter 1.
The celebration was in full swing when Captain Clark came into the passengers' lounge. Seabiscuit had brought out the good scotch and brandy, and Severus and Lydia were the only ones showing any restraint. Severus was in the habit of being cautious with alcohol due to his many years as a spy, and Lydia was just being sensible.
"I told Knight Lines that we'd been enchanted by Sirens, but we managed to escape," Clark announced. "I told them we'll need a few days off to recover. They can have Boat 4 cover for us."
The ship communicated with Knight Lines via an enchanted scroll. When the captain wrote on it, his words would appear on a sister scroll in their office, and then their reply would appear on his.
"I want you people to get some sleep," he told them. "I don't want to deal with a bunch of hangovers tomorrow."
"Aye, Cap'n! Aargh!" Biscuit said, raising his glass. He was back to playing pirate again.
Realizing that it was hopeless, Clark took Severus aside. "Can you help me set some wards on the ship? I don't think anyone is going to be up to standing watch tonight. We're all exhausted, and on top of that, the rest of them are half drunk now, too. I've anchored us off the Orkney Islands, and we should be safe enough here. And by the way, you've been promoted. You're officially our Security Officer now. I told Knight Lines we couldn't have escaped from the Sirens without you." He winked.
For a moment, 'Slade' almost smiled. "Let's get on with it, then," he said.
~~~~~
Severus fell asleep with his wand beside his pillow. The hijacking had forcefully reminded him not to let his guard down. It made him think of Moody: "Constant vigilance!" He had disliked the old Auror, but the man had been right about that.
Surprisingly, he had a pleasant dream. He was at Hogwarts, seated in the Headmaster's place at the head table. He looked out across the Great Hall, watching the students eating and talking happily among themselves. He felt very pleased and contented. It was so different from his actual experience as Headmaster. He awoke wishing it had been real.
Fawkes was already awake, and Severus opened the porthole so the bird could go for a morning flight. The rest of the crew was still asleep, so he went to the mess and helped himself to coffee and a bagel. Seabiscuit made much better coffee than the Hogwarts house-elves ever had.
He found several issues of The Quibbler waiting for him on the table. An owl must have brought them while they were ashore trying to rescue Fawkes. Reluctantly, he picked one up and started to read. Kingsley was now Minister of Magic. Minerva was Headmistress at Hogwarts, and repairs were going well. Lucius and Draco Malfoy had been released from Azkaban and were now under house-arrest at Malfoy Manor. He was reading excerpts from Skeeter's interview with Narcissa when Lydia came in to fix herself some tea.
"Poisonous Plants of Amazonia? How interesting," she said, glancing at one of the books that he'd brought from the dealer's cottage.
Severus raised an eyebrow and looked up at her. "Would you mind telling me exactly how you convinced Mr Shunpike of the error of his ways?" he asked. He needed to know if they could really trust Shunpike. Yes, the lad had helped them, but it might be prudent to lock him in the cargo hold anyway.
"It wasn't particularly difficult," she told him. "I just waited until the others had left, and then I followed him to the kitchen. He began rummaging in the fridge, probably looking for a cold one, with his wand stuck in his back pocket. I landed behind him, changed to my usual form, and snatched his wand. He hit his head on the fridge shelf and knocked a jug of pineapple juice down his back. I had to cast a cleaning spell on him." She chuckled at the memory.
"Anyway, he told me that he wanted to go somewhere where he could make a new start. He planned to slip away from the others as soon as he could after they left the British Isles, but there hadn't been a chance to do it yet. So I told him that his best bet was to help us, and that after we got the boat back, we'd drop him off wherever he wanted. He was a bit reluctant at first, but he could see the sense of it. You aren't going to turn him in, are you?"
"No, but I don't want him causing any trouble," Severus told her. "I'll have a talk with him."
Captain Clark appeared at the door and interrupted them. "We've got to get the crew up. Knight Lines rejected my request for time off. And guess what they want us to do. We're to go pick up some animals from some Aurors in northern Scotland, and return them to their native habitats." He laughed. "We can drop off you and Jack, too, if you want, Lydia."
"No hurry," she said. "This has been the most interesting vacation we've ever had."
~~~~~
Stan was a bit hung over. He was on his way back from the head when Severus confronted him.
"Please step into the cargo hold for a moment, Mr. Shunpike," he said ominously. "I'd like a word with you in private."
Stan looked alarmed, but he did as he was told. "Please don' turn me in or obliviate me or nuffink, sir," he said. "I swear I won' make no trouble for you. I just want to start over. I never had no chance. I wasn't smart or nuffink. That's why I wanted to be one of 'em. I wanted people to fink I woz important."
Severus snorted. "You're lucky you didn't get yourself killed."
"I don' know what to do. I weren't no good at school. That's why I quit. There weren't no point in it. You know. I woz in your class."
"Actually, you were good with your hands. You prepared your ingredients well, and your brewing skills were adequate. If you'd just paid attention and put some effort into studying, you could have done acceptable work. I told you that. You have to do the work. There are no shortcuts. At least there aren't for most of us."
It still angered him to remember how everything had always been so easy for James Potter. Potter never seemed to study, but the teachers were always praising him. He had it all: a rich family, pure blood, good looks, athletic talent, and all the girls he wanted. Even Lily, in the end. And he never seemed to make any effort. Severus had studied day and night, and nobody really cared. Even Lily, in the end. But it had paid off. Severus had become a skilled and powerful wizard, while James' complacency had gotten him killed. When the fool had been struck dead, he didn't even have his wand in his hand. It was time to forget James Potter.
"Yeah, some blokes get all the breaks," Stan agreed. "Everyfing always goes right for 'em."
Severus scowled at him. "Perhaps, but your problem is that you believed you couldn't do it, so you never even tried. You were defeated by your own attitude. Dropping out of school was stupid. You'll have to get to work now if you want a decent life. It won't happen by itself." He wondered how many times he'd given that advice when he was Head of Slytherin House. He wondered if many students had actually listened.
"I'll try," Stan said quietly. He still had no idea what he was going to do.
"See that you do," Severus told him. "However, we have a more immediate problem at the moment. The boat has been ordered to pick up those animals from the dealer's barn. The place will be swarming with Aurors. I strongly suggest that you stay in the passengers' quarters until we tell you it's safe.
Stan didn't need to be told twice. He vanished down the hall.
~~~~~
Severus knew that, like Stan, he should probably stay below decks, but he was part of the crew and he intended to help with the work. Simple Glamour spells should be sufficient. After all, the Aurors wouldn't be looking for him. Everyone knew that Severus Snape was dead.
He whitened his teeth and straightened them a bit, but not too much - he didn't want to look like Gilderoy Lockhart, with his perfect, sparkling white teeth. That might attract attention. He lightened his eyes to medium brown, and turned his hair brown, too. It had gotten fairly long and he tied it back. It had been distressingly fluffy lately, probably because of that fruity-smelling muggle shampoo that Kat had given him. It was very un-Snape-like, and under the circumstances, that was good.
The most important thing was to disguise his nose. Most of the younger Aurors would have been his students or his classmates, and they'd be sure to recognize his nose. Flicking his wand, he made it appear as nondescript as possible. He had difficulty disguising the scars on his neck, however. There was still too much residual dark magic in them, so he made sure that his turtleneck sweater covered them, and he was ready to go.
~~~~~
The Aurors had arrived the previous night, not long after the Dark Mark had appeared in the sky. It had caused a major alarm. They were surprised to find that no one was actually dead, although there were five people lying in cages in a barn, snoring loudly.
The Auror in charge, Morris, increased the light from his wand and bent down to take a look at them. "It's three of those Death Eaters that escaped from Azkaban. Maybe the fourth is around here somewhere. I don't recognize the other two. You trainees, see if you can find some sort of lights in this place, and then go get that gorilla and bring it in here. And be careful. We don't know if it's safe here yet. The rest of you, start searching the area. Someone must have put these guys in these cages. I'm going to wake 'em up and try to find out what happened here."
~~~~~
It was mid-morning and fog was still lying over the area when Severus apparated to shore with Captain Clark and Kat. They proceeded to the cottage where several Aurors were packing up illegal potion ingredients and other evidence.
"Would you look at this stuff?" one of the Aurors asked the others. "Human body parts, and pieces of endangered species! I hope they lock those guys up and throw away the key."
Auror Morris had questioned the prisoners for most of the night and learned absolutely nothing useful. They were either very confused, or very good liars, or both. Eventually he had given up. He came over and introduced himself to Captain Clark. "We have two wyverns, two orangutans, and a panda cub for you. My trainees are preparing them for transport. Come to the barn and I'll show you."
When they entered the barn, the prisoners were no longer there. Auror Morris mentioned that they had been picked up and taken to Azkaban, which was good. Even with the best obliviation, some shadows of memory always remain, and seeing all of them again so soon might have triggered dangerous feelings of déjà vu.
"We'll need some food for the animals, and some of those empty cages," Clark told Morris. "We can't have these creatures running all over the boat like it's Noah's Ark." Clark's mom had told him the story of Noah's Ark when he was a kid, and it had been one of his favorites.
"No problem," Morris said. "We'll shrink down the food and cages for you. We've put sleeping spells on the animals so you can take them side-along and apparate back to the boat. You'll have to make a couple of trips, though."
Severus hadn't been paying any attention to the trainees, but when they came over levitating the sleeping orangs, he nearly had a heart attack. The trainees were Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.
To be continued …