Harry had been holed up in his bedroom for the last hour and a half reading through Snape's book on defense and its accompanying spell compendium.  He had actually been so engrossed in what he was reading that he had completely forgotten about the upcoming Order meeting. 

He had just found the part in Snape's book that talked about initiative and reflex.  It was exactly the point Snape had been trying to hammer into his skull these last days, but it was written out here in far more detail.  There was a detailed description of the effects of injury on the body during battle.  Injury was to be avoided at all costs and Harry could see why (besides the obvious).  Injury wore you down, made you less alert and, according to the book, inevitably led to capture or death. 

Snape's book also defined the ‘reflexive warrior', a concept Snape had been describing to him not two hours ago.

Your body must respond to the demands of your mind instantly.  Before you ever identify what the threat is, your mind should process the fact that there is one.  This is what having good reflexes means.  It is important to learn to hit your target:  to learn a thousand spells:  to learn to plan:  to learn to watch your surroundings.  All of these are worthy pursuits.  But if you have slow reflexes, your body will not respond to your needs.  If you are not a reflexive warrior, all of your knowledge will be just as useful as throwing the book you dragged it out of at your enemy.

You will find no book or spell that can give you the reflexes of a soldier.  Even potions fall short of the mark.  They can make you more alert, but they cannot force you to respond instantly in an appropriate way to an attack.  If you fail in this, your opponent has already won the advantage. 

Rather, quick reflexes can only be learned through practice.  If hit often enough and encouraged to respond, the student will become a reflexive warrior in time.  Do not become discouraged that the responses will be sluggish at first.  All animals can develop learned reflexes.  Most are born with the instinctive urge to flinch, turn away or take flight when attacked.  The reflexive warrior instead learns to dodge and attack in concert.

Clearly, from Snape's perspective, this was an important skill in battle.  It kept popping up everywhere.  And, Harry thought wryly, so would Snape, just to teach these reflexes.  The idea did excite him though.  How cool would it be if he were attacked and he just instantly knew to dodge and fire?  He hoped Ginny were there to see it.

Where had that thought come from?  He shook his head and turned his attention back to the book.  He did not get much farther before there was a knock on his door.  His eyebrows rose.  Snape?  Knocking?  That was...nice.

"Come in," he called, closing the book and placing it on ‘his' desk. 

Snape came in carrying a handful of clothes, which Harry eyed with interest.  Please God, don't let them be Dungeon Bat brand clothes!  An image rose in his mind of himself wearing flowing black robes with far too many buttons, and he just about had a laughing fit.  It worked for Snape maybe, but he would just look ridiculous.

"These should be in your size," Snape said, laying the clothes on the bed.

"Where did they come from?" Harry asked, walking over and running his hand over the fabric.  They looked pretty normal for a teenage wizard.  There were a few jumpers, slacks in black, gray and brown and tee-shirts.  Harry moved a few from the top and noticed a few robes too. 

"These are what students have left behind over the years.  I took everything that was plain and in your size."

"Thanks," Harry said as he lifted up a robe to see the length.  They were perfect.

"You may as well throw out those clothes from your whale cousin."

Harry snorted.  "With pleasure."  He ran to his chest of drawers and pulled out all of his cousin's oversized clothes.  ""How about an Incendio?" he asked with an impish grin.

"How about an Avada?" Snape asked, eyeing the pile with distaste.

"Does that work on clothes?"

Snape heaved a dramatic sigh.  "Sadly no.  That curse does not work on inanimate objects.  Believe me, I've tried."

Harry couldn't help himself.  He had to laugh.  He just couldn't get the image of a pissed off Snape, sometime after potions class, trying to Avada Neville's potions essays. 

Even Snape, Harry noticed, was smirking in amusement.  "Get changed.  We leave in fifteen minutes," he said when Harry finally calmed down.

"Yes, sir!" Harry barked in imitation of a soldier, snapping his right hand to his forehead, palm out, in a military salute.

Snape started walking for the door, but turned back before he stepped through.  "I think an Incendio will do nicely."

Harry's grin grew larger.  "Incendio!"

As the fire consumed the clothes, he felt as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.  He was never going back to the Dursleys.  They didn't want him and he didn't give a damn.  Even if the Headmaster or the Minister of Magic himself came to tell him he'd have to go back, he would refuse.  Now he had nothing of the Dursleys at all and that was just fine with him.  

Severus left shaking his head.  But even he could not keep the smile from creeping onto his face at Potter's military salute and his happy grin when he had burned those awful clothes.  What a silly boy.

One thing was for sure; Potter was never going back to those relatives of his, if Severus had anything to say about it.  With the war escalating, the Muggles were entirely incapable of protecting Potter.  And they weren't fit to be guardians to even a blast-ended skrewt.

--------------

Snape ushered him from the gates of Hogwarts quickly, grabbed his arm and in seconds they were standing in front of the door of 12 Grimmauld Place.

"Quickly," Snape urged, pushing him toward the door.  He had his wand out and was scanning the street for movement. 

Harry didn't think there was any danger but he followed Snape's lead and held his own wand out as he approached the door.  He hadn't taken two steps onto the porch when the door was opened and Ron was beaming down at him. 

"Harry!  Hurry up.  The twins and Ginny are waiting for us.  We're going to play Exploding Snape." 

Harry laughed as Ron's face went red and he stared with horror at the Professor standing behind Harry with his arms now crossed. 

"I mean Snap," he practically yelled, voice cracking.  "Exploding Snap!"

"I believe you had it right the first time, Mr. Weasley," Snape said dangerously.

Ron looked like he was about to faint, so Harry grabbed his arm and dragged him into the house, throwing an apologetic smile over his shoulder at Snape as he disappeared into the house.  Snape rolled his eyes and followed them into the house. 

Molly Weasley, her four youngest children and several other Order members, met them in the kitchen. 

From their seats, the Headmaster and Remus tendered welcoming smiles but did not interrupt their discussion about the various benefits of the Austrian stance on werewolf regulations.  Molly Weasley rushed over to Harry before his friends could even get a word out.

"How are you deary?" she said, pulling Harry in for a hug. 

Harry really hoped his cheeks hadn't turned red as she held him at arm's length and looked him over with a shrewd eye.  Snape, he noticed, had already taken up a cross-armed stance in the corner, and was watching Mrs. Weasley's ministrations with ill concealed contempt.

"I'm fine," he said, hoping that it didn't come out as rude as he felt like being.  She was doing it again!  Couldn't she see he was fine? 

"Well you must be positively starving.  You look like you haven't eaten in days.  I'll get you something.  You just take a seat," she said, ushering him to the table.

"Oh yes," Snape said, sliding out from his corner.  "The boy must be starving.  When was the last time you ate Potter?" he asked sarcastically.

"Sometime last week sir," he answered as seriously as he could.  "Remember?  You let me have a bit of bread for scrubbing out the dungeons with a toothbrush."

"Huh," Snape said as though he were trying to recall that particular scene.  He moved for a chair himself then and Harry saw the small smile on his face as he sat and leaned toward the Headmaster to speak to him and Remus quietly.

Harry had thought their little impromptu act had been very clever, until he looked at Mrs. Weasley's face and saw how hurt she looked.  His humor left him immediately.  He hadn't wanted to hurt Mrs. Weasley's feelings by poking fun at her like that.  He ducked his head and studied the table for a second. 

But it wasn't like she was sparing Snape's feelings in the matter, he thought to himself.  Of course, there was always the possibility that Snape didn't have any feelings on the matter.  He always gave the impression that he didn't give a damn.  Harry wondered if that were true.  He himself had never liked people making assumptions about him. 

Mrs. Weasley may not be going about it the right way, but her concern for Harry was genuine.  He was angry with her, and he did think she had deserved the snub, but he really hadn't wanted her to feel hurt.  When he looked back up, she was moving around the kitchen, preparing his plate.  But he noticed that her movements seemed much jerkier than normal.  He felt so guilty!  He had to make this right.  Snape was already in discussion with the Headmaster and he didn't think he'd mind if he tried to smooth things over.

When Mrs. Weasley placed his plate in front of him, he reached out a hand to stop her from retreating.  In the most sincere voice he could muster, he looked her in the eye and said, "Thank you Mrs. Weasley.  Really.  I really appreciate...everything, you know?  But I'm fine, really."

Molly Weasley knew all about teenage boys.  Lord knew she had received her fair share of smart-alecky comments from her own boys.  She had to admit to herself that the only reason the remarks had hurt her feelings, was because Severus and Harry had mutually mocked her motherly nagging. She hadn't expected Harry to be sarcastic - he had always been such a sweet boy.  But perhaps she had it coming.  If Harry were comfortable enough to joke with his Professor, things couldn't be quite as bad as she had assumed. 

Still, she was determined to keep an eye on the two of them.  One never knew what would happen when tensions were running high.  Severus was not the sort of man who should be put in charge of an impressionable young boy like Harry.  She appreciated his efforts for the war, she really did.  But that didn't change who he was and what he was capable of.  She was just relieved that Harry had walked in looking unhurt after the argument last night.

But Harry, the little dear, he looked so sincere; she just couldn't stay mad at him for long.  She reached an arm around his shoulder and gave him a small peck on the cheek.  "You're such a sweet child," she said as she stood back up and patted him on the shoulder. 

Harry breathed a sigh of relief as she walked away with a more normal gait.  Then he turned his attention to his friends, who had apparently been talking to him the whole time and rather loudly at that.

"Earth to Harry," Ginny laughed. 

"Sorry," he said with a smile.  "What did I miss?"

"We were asking if you got into a lot of trouble," Ron whispered to him.

"Oh!  Yeah, a little.  I have, like, a million lines to write."  By the look on his friend's faces, he knew that they believed him about the number of lines.  "I'm only kidding.  I've just got 500.  It's not that bad."

"Just 500?  Mate, your idea of bad is definitely skewed," Ron said knowledgably.

"Well, it could have been worse," George said with a meaningful look at Snape.

"Yeah, he could have had to scrub the whole dungeon with a tooth brush," Fred smiled.

"He didn't really make you do that did he?" Ron asked, shooting a glare at Snape's back.

"Of course he didn't Ron," Ginny said with a roll of her eyes.  "They were just joking.  Jeesh."

"Well, it is Snape we're talking about here," Ron said, careful that his voice didn't carry.  "And I can't believe you were joking with him.  You'll probably have to do a million lines for that."

"No, I won't," Harry said, laughing and shaking his head.  "It's fine.  Anyway, did you all get in trouble?"

Ron looked down guiltily but the twins smiled.  "Nah.  She was so upset at Snape that she didn't say a word to us except to get packed up to go back home.  Great thinking Harry."

"Right.  Well, you're welcome, I guess.  All in a day's work, ya know?"

Harry finished his meal and listened to the twins regale Ginny and Ron with tales of their pranks against Umbridge last year.  The old toad had positively inspired them, it seemed. 

It wasn't long until he had finished his meal and he, Ron and Ginny were ushered from the room.  Snape shot him a look and mouthed the word "library."  Harry nodded and dragged his friends to the library quickly.  All the way down the hallway they complained about not being able to stay.  But Harry knew better than to push his luck any further.  He shut the door firmly when they were all in there and sat down across from them. 

"So guys.  Wanna play a game or something?" he asked.

Ginny and Ron exchanged a smile.  Then Ron was digging into a rucksack he had been carrying.

"Look at this," he said, extracting a pair of extendable ears.

Harry could have groaned.  "I can't listen again!"

"I know," Ron said with a smile.  "We definitely don't want you to get in trouble again.  But the twins helped us improve these yesterday.  They pull back automatically now if there's someone coming."

"No, you don't understand," Harry started to protest, but Ginny interrupted him. 

"It's ok Harry.  We'll listen and then tell you everything.  You can sit there and look like you're reading or something.  Then if we do get caught..."

"Which we won't," Ron threw in.

"Right.  But if we do, you'll have, like, an alibi."

"Look guys," Harry said, eyeing Ron as he unrolled the extendable ears.  "I think we should just not do it all right?"

"But don't you want to know what's going on?" Ron asked.  He looked put out.

"Well, yeah, I do.  But look, let's just do what they want this time, ok?  Maybe the twins will tell us what happened."

"Yeah, maybe," Ginny said in evident disbelief.  "But I'd rather hear it for myself."

Ron was by now already standing at the door.  Harry had to think fast.  He did want to hear, he really did.  But there was no way, absolutely no way, that he was going to disappoint Snape again.  He got up and placed a hand on the door just before Ron went to open it.

"What's up mate?" Ron asked him in confusion.

"Look," he said, making his expression as stern as he could.  "We are not doing this.  All right?"

Ron pulled back from him and crossed his arms.  "Stop trying to channel Snape will you?  What'd he do, curse you to keep you from doing anything fun?"

"This is not fun," he said, crossing his own arms.  "This is war.  And Snape did not curse me.  You can't blame me for not wanting him to be mad again."

"Of course we don't blame you Harry.  But this could be important, whatever they're talking about," Ginny said.

"It is important.  But what would we do even if we did know what they were planning?  It's better not to know.  The fewer people that do, the less danger."

"What?  You know what's going on?" Ron asked.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked in confusion.  He only knew there was an Order meeting.

"He means, do you know why they called the meeting," Ginny clarified.

"Oh!  Well yeah.  Don't you?"  Surely they would have heard that there was a break out at Azkaban.

"NO!" Ron threw his arms into the air.  "Mum wouldn't say a word.  Dad was going to tell us but she gave him the look."

"She's being ridiculous," Ginny agreed. 

Harry agreed, but he didn't want to say so.  "Well, there was a break out from Azkaban; a mass break out."

"Oh," Ron said in shock.  He slid into a chair and shook his head.  "Reckon that foul git Malfoy's gotten out too?"

"Yeah, he did," Harry answered. 

"That's horrible!" Ginny cried.  "How many escaped, do you know?"

"No.  But Snape reckons all of the Death Eaters got out."

"Snape told you this?" Ron asked in awe. 

"Actually, I was just there when he found out, so no.  But he didn't try to keep it from me or anything.  Why would your mum do that?"

"She thinks if we don't know anything, we won't go anywhere or do anything dangerous.  I mean, what would we do even if we had known that the Death Eaters all escaped," Ron asked.

"I think I'd probably go hide in my room," Ginny said with a small smile. 

Harry laughed.  "Come on guys.  Let's play a game.  We'll ask the twins when they get out what happened."

He was relieved that they agreed.  He had briefly considered the very real possibility that he would have to argue with Ron over it.  What was he supposed to do then?  Go get Snape and tell on Ron and Ginny?  Not bloody likely!

-----------

The twins were the first ones out of the meeting.  They hadn't even been in there for more than an hour before they came out with heads bowed.

"What's up?" Ron asked them the second they sat down.

"Yeah, come on.  Tell us everything," Ginny begged.

"I don't think so," George said.

"Why not?" Ginny asked looking put out.

Harry crossed his arms.  He wouldn't have minded them saying anything.  It wouldn't be his fault then.  Of course, he wasn't going to needle them for information either.  He was trying really hard to do everything right.

"We can't say anything you know.  Top secret and all," Fred answered with a grin.

"That's ridiculous, that is," Ron shouted.

"Come on Ron," Harry said.  "It's none of our business."

"None of our..." Ron looked scandalized.  "Bloody hell Harry!  You're the Boy Who Lived.  How is this not your business?"

Exactly! Harry thought.  But then he remembered his thoughts from earlier that day.

"Look, there's a lot more going on than what affects me, ok?  We'll find out what's going on eventually."

"Yeah, but what if it's really important Harry?" Ginny asked. 

"If it's really important for us to know, then I reckon they'll tell us."  At least, he hoped someone would - though he didn't have too much faith in that.  By the looks on his friend's faces, he could tell they didn't believe that either.

"Right," Ron said.  He turned from Harry to keep working on his brothers.  Harry sighed and went back to watching the Weasley's argue.  None of them noticed the dark presence in the doorway.

"Look," George said, getting fed up.  "We can't tell you, so quit being a pest."

"Well, why not?" Ron asked again.

"Perhaps because they've already been warned by the Order once to keep their own counsel in matters of war," Snape said, gliding into the room and fixing Ron with a dark look.

Ron's eyes widened and he shrank back.  "Professor," he croaked.

The twins stood up and greeted Snape cheerily, but Harry was interested to note that they didn't meet the man's eyes.  He looked back and forth between Snape and the Weasley twins for a second until things clicked into place. 

Snape must have told the Order that they were helping them listen in on secrets.  It was the only thing that made sense.  Mrs. Weasley hadn't punished them and he had no doubt that Snape wouldn't just let them get away with something like that, being Order members and all.  In fact, he was probably the one that had issued the warning.

"Say goodbye to your little friends, Potter," Snape said, turning his glance to Harry, who was standing stiffly in the corner.  "We're leaving now."

"Yes, sir," Harry sighed.  Snape had better not blame him for Ron's needling was all he could think.  He walked over to Ginny and she gave him a quick hug.

"Write to us?" she asked.

"Of course." 

Ron and he patted each other on the back in a ‘manly' fashion.  "Reckon you'll get in trouble again?" Ron whispered.

Harry shook his head.  "Probably.  But it's no big deal."

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

He shook the twins' hands and George leaned in to whisper.  "We're going to be opening up a joke shop in Diagon Alley.  You should stop by, seeing as you're our partner and all."

"Yeah, I'll try to do that."

"Watch out for Snape," Fred said with a wink.  "He's in a right foul mood."

"Why?" Harry asked in a whisper, aware all the time of Snape's eyes boring holes in his back.

"Well, first he and Moody got on us for last night," Fred answered.

"Then he and mum argued for a few minutes," George continued.

Fred took it up again.  "And well, Snape's in a worse mood than usual is all."

"Thanks for the warning," Harry said with a sigh.  "See you guys later then."

He walked back over to the door where Snape was waiting with his arms crossed.  Right before he went out the doors, he turned back and waved goodbye again.

- - - - - - -

Severus had heard most of the conversation between Potter and his little friends and had been...surprised.  Perhaps his message had actually worked its way past Potter's thick skull.  The boy's obedience was, perhaps, the first thing since arriving at Grimmauld Place that hadn't thoroughly set his blood on fire.

First, there had been Molly Weasley's thinly veiled accusations.  He had never been so close to cursing that woman as he had been this night.  Her arguments in front of the rest of the Order were bad enough.  Her accusations of abuse really set his wand hand to itching though.  He wasn't hurt by it, but he was angry.  Of everyone in that damn room, every single one of them, he had done far more to keep Potter from harm than any of them.  Despite their protestations of love and concern, it was he that always chased after Potter. 

It wasn't like they weren't aware of it either.  When the Dark Lord had returned and the Order had been assembled, the Order had met for several hours.  Potter and his various exploits and the Dark Lord's interest in him had been a major topic of that meeting. 

He had come through the door that night, after his reunion with the Dark Lord, in pain and in a foul mood.  The entire Order meeting had seemed frivolous and unimportant, very much unlike the Dark Lord's meeting.  The Death Eaters' reunion with the Dark Lord had immediately focused on planning and organizing.  The difference between the two meetings had set his already frayed nerves on edge.  The Order should have been organizing their defenses that first hour!  Instead, they had spent far too much time on catching everyone up on the last four years of information, most of which he had gathered himself at the Headmaster's request. 

And he could well remember the dark looks he had gotten from many of them when Albus had asked him for his report.  He could have sworn he had heard Black growl like the dog that he was.  When Albus had described the various measures taken over the years to ensure Potter's safety, Severus' name had figured prominently in that conversation.  But none of the Order had shown the least bit of gratitude.  He hadn't expected it of course; that was not why he had done it.  But he had thought that after all that he had done for the boy, he would not have to be subjected to insinuations of child abuse against Potter.

And then this night had just gotten worse from there.  He had dealt with the issue of the Weasley twins and their flippant disregard for secrecy as it appeared no one else had been willing to do.  He had been surprised to find an ally in Moody though.  Still, that had sparked an argument with Molly over him being too harsh...again.  And again, his hand had been inching toward his wand.  He would never raise it against her to harm her of course.  But he had been considering a silencing charm.  And he could just imagine how well that would have gone over.  They would probably have had him arrested or some such nonsense. 

The Order could natter on all day about how wary they were of Severus and his true loyalties; but at the end of the day, he didn't trust them either.  They all thought that they were infallible; that their loyalties could never be called into question.  But he knew that for the lie it was.  The other members blathered incessantly about being loyal to the Order and to each other.  But he was a member of the Order after all, and they were not loyal to him.  If he were in danger, he couldn't count on any of them to come to his aid.  If he stepped out of line the tiniest bit, they would gladly see him go down. 

He smiled wryly to himself.  Let them try to bring me down.  If it's a Death Eater they want, it's a Death Eater they'll get.

But no, those thoughts were dangerous; to him and to the Order.  And it could possibly affect Potter's safety.  He didn't trust them with his own welfare because he believed they hated him.  He didn't trust them with Potter's welfare because they didn't know how to protect him. 

After the argument over the twins' indiscretion had been settled, Severus had been forcibly reminded of the rift between himself and the Order, when Moody had brought up Lucius Malfoy.

"Looks like your slippery friend's managed to escape again."

Friend.  Yes.

He had said something sarcastic back of course - he couldn't even remember what it was now.  The rest of the meeting had dissolved into speculation about the Dark Lord's plans.  Severus had been questioned as though he were a criminal.

Well, that was an exaggeration.  They wouldn't dare.  And he knew from experience how far removed from an actual interrogation that had been.  But he had still been in the spotlight.

Could he do anything to find out what was going on? 

Yes. 

They hadn't asked him if he would, of course.  Perhaps they had just assumed he would do what he'd always done.  Odd that they weren't curious about how he would accomplish it now that he was no longer privy to the Dark Lord's thoughts and schemes.  If anyone else had been asked to do that, there would have been an outpouring of concern.  But not for Snape the Spy. 

He hated them all.

That was, perhaps, not quite true.  He did not hate any of them, not really.  But he disliked them all intensely.  Only the Headmaster and Minerva were anything approaching what he might call a friend.  Moody...well, the old auror was irritating but was actually very useful.  It was uncanny how often they agreed on matters.  Lupin.  Even in his mind he spat the word.  Spineless, whining, weak little werewolf!  But grateful, at least.  And an ally from time to time.  The rest of them were useful in their own way, he supposed.  And he didn't wish any of them any real harm.  Perhaps a stubbed toe, but nothing too damaging. 

And now he had to find a way to bring in information about the Dark Lord's plans.  And keep Potter safe.  Oh and Severus?  Could you brew another batch of the Fire Protection Potion?  We ran out last week.

Oh yes, of course.  I'll pencil that in on my schedule right after being caught and tortured by the Dark Lord and right before being turned over to the ministry for being a Dark Wizard.  Will that be soon enough?

They were already halfway across the grounds of Hogwarts when he realized that Potter was practically running to keep up with him.  He slowed down a little to let him catch up and kept his pace slower. 

- - - - - - -

The twins had been right.  Snape was in a bad mood.  He hadn't said a word or looked at Harry the entire time they had been traveling.  His lips had been set in a constant frown and his hand had been clenching around his wand the entire walk up the drive.  Harry could hardly keep up with the man as he stalked across the grounds. 

This was the Snape that children ran from in the halls.

Snape couldn't be this pissed by anything Harry had done, could he?  Not that he had done anything wrong.  He didn't even entertain the idea of interrupting Snape's thoughts though.  Maybe later, when they were in their quarters.  Snape would have to talk to him during dinner wouldn't he?

When they did finally reach their rooms, Snape stalked to his door, walked in and slammed it behind him.  Harry stood in the doorway in awe.  Wow!  Snape was really pissed about something. 

But then the very next second, the door opened again and Snape seemed far more composed.  What had that been about?

"Dinner will be at the usual time.  Do not disturb me until then."

"Yes sir." 

And then Snape was walking back out of the rooms and down the dungeon hallway.  Harry watched for a moment in confusion as Snape passed the potions lab and kept right on walking.  Now where could he be going?  Harry hadn't missed the potions vial that Snape had been clutching either.

Harry ran to his room, shut the door and pulled out his map.  It only took him a second to find the dot labeled Snape.  He hadn't known that dots could do an impersonation of stalking but Snape's dot seemed to him to be doing just that.  Or maybe that was just because he could see Snape doing it in his own imagination.

He watched Snape cross through the Great Hall and walk outside without stopping.  And then finally, Snape's dot crossed a boundary in the Forbidden Forest and disappeared from the map.

"What the....?"  Harry looked from the map to his invisibility cloak and back again.

"No," he said to himself forcibly.  That would be a huge mistake, following Snape.  Even he knew that. 

"No," he said again, reinforcing it.

In the next moment, he laughed at himself.  Was he really that bad that he had to keep himself from doing stupid things like that by talking to himself?  He was reminded of the line in Snape's book about learned responses and he snorted.  All animals can develop learned reflexes.  He was learning how to not piss Snape off.  That had to go a long way toward survival instincts didn't it?

He put his map away and got up.  He had too much energy to just sit here.  For a moment, he considered getting his broom out, but if Snape came back and saw that, he really would be in trouble.

Instead, he decided to see if Dobby was in the kitchens.  He could just call him, he supposed, but he felt like walking anyway.  It felt nice to stretch his muscles.  He had spent two hours dodging Snape's spells this afternoon and his muscles were just a little sore.  But his aches were nowhere near as bad as they could have been if Snape hadn't been using marker spells only.

He pushed all thoughts of Snape, the Order meeting and the Azkaban break out from his mind as he walked.  Snape would be back for dinner (hopefully in a better mood) and maybe Harry would get some answers then.  Of course, maybe he wouldn't, but that wouldn't stop him from trying - carefully.