Warrior and Freedom flew straight over the village, heading towards the opposite side, where the small Gaunt House was supposed to be located.  Harry had a pretty good idea of what to look for, as did Severus.  Dumbledore had said the Gaunts' house was little more than a tumbledown shack, hidden in a culvert near what used to be a riding trail through Little Hangleton.  How hard could it be to find a shack?

But even with their hawk sharp vision, the Animagi could not locate the Gaunt house.  They flew several sorties over the village, scanning every possible culvert and overgrown abandoned building, of which there weren't many, and none of them were what they sought.

Finally, after about an hour of flybys, Freedom looked at Warrior, and screeched, Do you think maybe it was knocked down or something? You know, Muggles sometimes do that to condemned buildings.

But Warrior disagreed.  No, the Headmaster assured me that the Gaunt house was still standing.  It is a wizard residence, however poorly built and maintained, so it most likely has preserving spells on it.  And the Gaunts had an unsavory reputation here, so I doubt if any Muggle would want to come near the place.  It MUST be here somewhere.

Freedom gave an impatient squawk.  Maybe it's hidden somehow.  With magic?

Yes.  Warrior clicked his beak.  Though it would take a great deal of power to set concealment charms to hide such a large object.  Still, Voldemort was not short on power or ambition.  We should shift back anyhow, it's growing dark and that makes our eyes unreliable as well as the fact that we have been flying over the village for over an hour and hawks aren't a common sight around here.

So the two Animagi landed in some large overgrown field just beyond the border of the village and shifted back to their human forms. 

"Now what?" Harry asked.

Severus gave him a sharp look, and Harry quickly realized he was breaking the other's concentration and clamped his mouth shut.  A year a go, he wouldn't have been able to interpret Severus's looks with that degree of intuition, but now he could tell nuances in the way the man glared and what had prompted one, most times.  Not that he would ever become a total expert on reading the professor, Snape had been a spy too long to give away all his emotions with body language and facial expressions, but he was getting better at some of Snape's silent cues.

Harry watched as Severus lowered his head a bit and though the man's expression did not change, Harry could feel the invisible magical energies gathering about the other sorcerer, the rousing of magic made his skin prickle with warm darts of energy.  Severus had said that due to his near-death by magic, Harry was overly sensitive to powerful magic being used near him.  Had Snape been casting a dark spell, Harry would have felt cold and uneasy, even sick to his stomach, the way he had been during the battle at the Ministry, when the Death Eaters had cast Unforgivables. Severus had said that Occlumency shields would help reduce the sensitivity somewhat, though right now Harry wasn't using them since he didn't find the sensation of Snape's magic unpleasant.

Severus sent out his mental probe again, using his powers to fuel a wandless detection charm, one of the strongest in his arsenal of such spells.  As a spy he had studied not only the art of non-detection, but the reverse as well, so he could find documents and other things that had been hidden.  Given Voldemort's fanatical nature, Snape suspected he had cast several layers of anti-detection and concealment spells once he had hidden the Horcrux here.

He felt a slight nudge somewhere off to the right, and began to walk slowly in that direction.  The magic tugged him again, and he continued, sensing that this was the direction of the house.  It was an odd thing, trying to find something under a concealment web.  It wasn't so much of finding where an object was, but of where it wasn't.  To Severus's magical Sight, every living thing had an aura, a pulse of energy surrounding it.  Non-living things often took on the aura of the person or animal that used them, and radiated a slightly lesser energy.  Houses and other dwellings made from materials that had once been alive had a bit more of an aura. But when you put something under a concealment charm, the aura was altered, disrupted, and sometimes vanished entirely.

If you knew how, you could direct your Sight and see the gaps between things, and in this case, Severus was able to discern that there was an odd vacancy off to the left, in a bunch of overgrown hedges and bramble thickets.  The plants showed up as a glittering greenness, but in the middle was an odd nothingness. 

That had to be where the house was, thought the former spy, and continued on until he reached the thicket and then stopped.

Harry, who had been following Snape eagerly, looked up and said, "Here? But we flew over this spot a dozen times at least."

"He was good at concealment magics even then," Severus reiterated.  "Look at the spot using your magical Sight.  Tell me what you see."

Harry did so, and saw the bright green auras of the bushes. "I see . . .the bushes glowing green and . . ." he squinted sharply.  It was almost as if there were a smokey outline where the bush met another bush. He stared hard. "It's almost . . .as if I could see . . .something . . .wispy . . .like smoke . . ."

"Yes.  Now glance away a bit, and look out of the corner of your eye."

"I can't see anything.  Just a blur of black."

"Exactly."

"What good is that?"

"Seeing nothing means that someone is hiding something, especially when you should be seeing a hedge there." Severus told him.  "A concealment charm usually warps the aura of an object or if it's particularly strong, makes it vanish.  And that leaves a hole in the fabric of energy."

"So . . .that's how you can tell where the house is? By what's not there?"

"Yes." Severus gave him a nod of approval.  "And now I need to figure out how many layers of charms are here and how to dispel them."

"Can't you just cast Finite Incantatum?"

"That works well on one specific spell, but not for this, where many spells are layer upon each other," Severus lectured. "In order to cancel a spell, Harry you must know the exact spell you are cancelling.  If you don't, then the charm will fail.  Magic works specifically, not generally. So I must figure out the concealment charms layer by layer."

Harry groaned.  "But . . .that could take hours!"

"Yes.  It could.  Which is why you will find a spot out of the way and be still, Mr. Potter.  I cannot afford any lapses in my concentration."

Harry looked around, finally spotting a semi-cleared patch of ground under a tree where he could sit.   He decided he would keep a look out for anyone coming by that might wonder why a tall man was just standing and staring at a bunch of brambles.  He leaned back against the tree and watched the path that led into the village.

Snape chanted another spell, this one designed to pierce veils.  Slowly, the nothingness peeled away, rolling away like a curtain drawn back from a window.  But underneath that was yet another layer of spells, ones designed to make him look away and see nothing where something should be.  Layer upon layer, like a spiderweb, thought the professor grimly, and set to work dismantling the second set with yet another unveiling charm, this one designed to tear apart the concealment web like a hot knife.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl for Harry as he watched both the road and Severus.  The sun sank beneath the horizon and night fell and still the professor remained where he was, manipulating the web of spells with a surgeon's deft preciseness.  Harry tried once or twice to penetrate the spell web with his own Sight, but found it disorientating to look upon so much magic at once in a small space, it was like gazing into the sun and he blinked and rubbed his watering eyes.

He did not know just how Snape maintained that intense focus for so long, he was sure at least an hour or two had gone by since they had first discovered the place where the house ought to be.  He didn't think he could keep focus that way for so long, but maybe such came with practice, and Severus had been both spy and Potions Master for many years.  Maybe by the time Harry was Severus's age, he would have the discipline to focus his will and his magic that way.

A car honked from somewhere in the village and he heard a door slam and someone call something.  A radio blared and a baby wailed further down the street, the sounds carried because the night was still.  Harry wondered if Hedwig had woken yet, and if she would be able to find them.  Then he recalled she had never had trouble finding him before this, perhaps it was part of the bond between master and familiar.

Severus tugged hard at the final layer of the concealment web, driving his will down into his Revelation Charm, until the spell began to penetrate the thickly woven net of invisibility and dissolve it. Bit by bit, the concealment spell shredded, until only wisps remained. 

Harry looked up and saw the Gaunt House shimmer into view a few seconds later. He grinned from ear to ear.  Way to go, Sev! He cheered silently.  You did it.

The Potions Master turned back to look at his apprentice, triumph in his onyx eyes, but he looked wan and exhausted.  "Finally managed to break through the final layer," he said wearily.  "Gaunt house, fledgling.  Where hopefully another hidden thing awaits us."

"You mean a Hor-"

"-do not say that name aloud!" rebuked his guardian.  "Too much mention of those forbidden objects may draw attention that we do not need from certain quarters."

"How? I don't understand, Sev.  How can just mentioning  a name draw attention?"

Severus rubbed a hand over his face.  "Listen close, Potter.  When someone calls your name, do you pay attention?"

"Well, yeah, sure."

"Names, especially in the wizarding world, have power.  In the old study of sorcery, to name a thing truly meant you commanded it, and sometimes that still holds true.  So it is best if we do not speak of what we seek, lest someone on the Other Side chance to hear it. Living or dead.  Remember, he who is cautious lives to fight another day."

"Oh.  I get it now. So, do you think the . . .thingamajig is in there?"

Both eyebrows went up.  "Thingamajig?"

"Well, you said not to call it by its real name," Harry defended.

"I would say based on the number of non-detection spells, that yes, it is here." He gestured at the house.

The Gaunt house was as ramshackle and derelict as they had been told.  It was made of cheap clapboard, the paint was peeling off the sides in dingy gray strips, the door was painted a muted green which had since faded to a disgusting puce color, it had a crescent moon carved in the top, reminding Harry of an outhouse.  The shingles were split and missing off of half the roof and the chimney stones were crumbling as well.  The walk and lawn were overgrown with weeds and several windows were cracked and one shutter hung forlornly from the lefthand side. 

"Looks like it's one step away from being declared an eyesore," Harry stated.  "Is it safe to enter?"

"I would say not, yet enter we must." Snape sighed, then pointed his wand at the door and chanted a quick unlocking spell.

The door swung open and Harry walked forward.  He paused on the threshold, recalling Severus's lectures on casting spells of detection when entering a wizard dwelling uninvited.  But his spells showed no wards over the door and he walked inside, lighting up his wand as he did so.   

After a moment, Severus followed, gulping down a Headache Remedy as he did so.

Inside it stank of mildew and the dust was an inch thick on the wood floors. A few moth eaten rugs were on the floor and two or three chairs that had holes chewed in the cushions plus an old secretary in the corner.  A potbellied stove stood on the righthand side with an old saucepan atop it.  A picture of Salazar Slytherin was above the fireplace, which was filled with ash and soot.  A set of rickety stairs led up to most likely an attic.  Off to the right was a sink and a partially open door leading to the bathroom.  Other than that the house was empty.

Before Severus could tell his apprentice not to move or to be careful where he stepped, that hidden wards could be on the floor, Harry walked over to peer up the rickety staircase.  As he did so, he felt something catch at his trainer, and he stumbled, like he had tripped over something, but there was nothing there. He went to his knees with a thump, skidding across the dusty floor.

"Damn it all, Potter, watch where you're-!"

There was a sound like a match being struck and then the stairs and a portion of the floor were wreathed in flames.

With a startled cry, Severus leaped forward, snatching Harry up bodily by the back of his shirt and half flinging the boy behind him.

One minute Harry was on the floor with flames racing eagerly towards him and the next he was halfway across the room, watching in horror as Severus was surrounded by a ring of fire. 

"Severus!" he could not contain the howl that emerged from his throat then.

The flames danced greedily about the tall black-robed figure, and then he heard the professor's voice chanting, "Aguamenti majoris!"

Water exploded from Snape's ebony wand, dousing a portion of the raging fire, and clouds of steam billowed up, obscuring Snape from view.

Harry began to choke and gasp, the smoke was terrible, and his eyes streamed. He staggered over to a window, striking it with the flat of his hand and knocking a pane out.  Coughing, he gulped some cool air, then managed to summon a refreshing breeze into the ramshackle house so he could breathe, after first wrapping a handkerchief about his face. 

Some instinct urged him to shift forms and just as he changed into Freedom, a reddish black dog, like a German shepherd, but much larger, with blazing yellow eyes and tongues of flame shooting from its mouth, appeared out of the smokey interior and lunged at him.

Freedom soared up into the air in the nick of time, avoiding the hellhound's jaws.  Flecks of fiery spittle burned holes in the floorboards and the demon canine bayed ferociously. 

The dog's awful bay sent shockwaves through Freedom, and the red-tailed hawk shuddered and nearly plummeted from the sky, his hearing was affected by the hellhound's magically amplified bark.  As the hawk began to fall, the hellhound sprang up about six feet, its jaws narrowly missing Freedom's tail.

It mouthed two red feathers and snarled.

Merlin, but that was close! Freedom thought, and circled above the raging dog.

The hellhound eyed the hawk, but it was smart and did not bother trying to jump at the bird again.  Instead it turned about and sprang through the ring of fire at Severus, who had managed to put out the worst of the flames, but was nearly overcome by the resultant smoke and steam.

Snape was in the midst of trying to banish some of the smoke with a Fresh Air Charm when the hellhound landed on top of him, pinning him to the floor. By chance, Severus fell on a portion of the floor where the flames had already been put out, and so was not roasted to death. 

He threw up a hand, eyes wide in terror, as the hellhound tried to rip out his throat.

The demon dog's fangs closed upon his wand and then Severus blurred into Warrior, trading wings for flesh.

The hound suddenly found that its paws were no longer holding a human, but a slippery goshawk, who used his razor sharp beak to stab at the dog's vulnerable eyes and nose, tearing into the tender flesh.  The hellhound yelped like a whipped cur and drew back, allowing Warrior time to spread his wings and fly into the smoke-filled air.

The goshawk felt his shoulder muscles protest, because the hound's claws had scratched him a bit and singed some of his feathers, but he ignored the pain and climbed higher, trying to get free of the dangerous area.

Freedom nearly backwinged into the bigger hawk, hissing and coughing.  Can't . . .breathe right!  Huh? Warrior, is that you?

Warrior nipped the smaller hawk sharply.  Fly towards the window, stupid fledgling!

Freedom meeped.  Ow! But what about the demon dog? And the house will burn down!

And so will we if you don't move your arse! Warrior shrilled and drove the startled red-tailed hawk towards the cracked window using his beak and talons.

Freedom flew swiftly away from the seemingly crazed goshawk, diving through the window an instant later. Then soaring upwards into the sky and hovering, gasping for breath.  Oddly enough the leaping flames inside the house were barely visible on the outside.

A moment later, the darker goshawk appeared, landed on the roof, and transformed back into Severus Snape.  Before Freedom could ask what he was doing, Snape ran along the flattened roof and thrust his arm down the chimney.

One Gust of Wind spell later had smothered the remainder of the flames and cleared out most of the smoke.  Then the professor changed back into Warrior and flew down the chimney, followed an instant later by Freedom. 

The two hawks burst from the chimney into the main room of the house to find a confused hellhound wandering in circles, drooling and whining.

Now, fledgling! Warrior shrieked, climbing as high as he could to the top of the ceiling. 

Then he closed his wings and dove, talons outstretched, striking the hellhound hard in the middle of its back, talons ripping into the vulnerable spleen and kidneys, which were to the right of the hellhound's spinal cord, for despite looking like a dog, the demon had a different internal makeup. 

Kreee-aarr!

Freedom plummeted from the air like a bolt of divine lightning, smaller and faster than his raptor companion.

The hellhound bellowed, flames shooting from its jaws as the goshawk's talons pierced its vitals, but before it could turn and barbecue Warrior, Freedom slammed into its head, binding his talons to the hellhound's fiery eyes.

The Animagus clung hard as the demonic dog thrashed and howled, running in circles trying to dislodge both birds, leaking greenish blood that smelled like brimstone all over the floor.

Suddenly, the hellhound threw itself on the ground and rolled, trying with the last of its strength to crush and smother the goshawk.  Freedom released the dying creature and then screamed at Warrior, Release! Quickly!

But the normally cool and collected Warrior was deep in a killing rage and did not realize his danger until Freedom bit him sharply on the shoulder.  Warrior, move!

The goshawk released the hellhound and flew up just as the dog toppled over, then hovered as the creature writhed and hissed curse at the two hawks before expiring in a crimson burst of hellfire, leaving a blackened splotch upon the floor.

Freedom landed and transformed into Harry, followed a moment later by Warrior.

"Sev, are you okay?" asked Harry worriedly, for the professor seemed dazed.

"I . . .think so." Snape gazed down at himself quizzically.  His black robes were covered in soot and his palms were red from battling the flames.  He coughed sharply, for some of the smoke had entered his lungs despite his quick water and air summoning spells.

Snape's harsh coughs sent Harry into paroxysms as well and for ten or fifteen minutes all the two did was cough viciously, as their bodies sought to expel the deadly poison from their lungs. 

When Harry could take a breath without hacking up a lung, he reached into a pocket of his jacket and pulled out the emergency potions kit Severus insisted he carry, enlarged it with a word, and then found the Breathe Ease Elixir and swallowed it down.  The potion started to work, immediately healing the smoke damaged tissue of his lungs and trachea.

He placed his kit on the floor and went to help Severus, who was worse off than he was, having been almost within the inferno, helping the still gasping Snape to sit down.  "Drink, Sev," he urged, putting the vial of Breathe Ease to the Potion Master's lips. 

Snape made as if to shove his hand away, but Harry remained firm.  "No.  Drink! I can't spell it into you, damn it, so you're going to have to swallow.  Now, come on." He tilted the vial, and managed to coax the wizard to swallow a bit. 

The spasms eased, and Harry urged his mentor to take another swallow.

Then a lean hand closed over the vial and Snape finished the draft without any more urging.

Afterwards, Severus seemed more coherent, and he said sharply, "Why didn't you fly when I told you to, Mr. Potter?"

Harry shrugged.  "I don't know.  I was . . .confused and angry, I guess.  You okay? I thought . . .you were dead."

"Yes, apart from some minor burns, I am well. Thank you for the warning, fledgling.  Sometimes the goshawk shape . . .has a mind of its own," the Potions Master admitted ruefully.  Then he reached over and cuffed the younger wizard on the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" demanded Harry.

"That was for blundering in your typical Gryffindor fashion into the house without first checking to see if there were wards inside."

"But I did check the door." Harry protested, rubbing his head.  "How was I supposed to know there was some kind of bloody fire trap on the floor?"

"By using your head, young man.  Think before you react," scolded his mentor.  "Had you waited, I could have detected that trap, but instead you walked right into it."

Harry flushed, knowing Snape was right.  He had nearly gotten both of them killed by being too hasty.  "Sorry, Severus.  It won't happen again.  You can ground my arse later, okay?"

"Don't think I won't, fledgling.  Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No.  Damn dog snitched a few of my tail feathers, but otherwise I'm okay."

"You are certain?" Severus frowned, drawing his wand and intoning a quick diagnostic. 

It came back normal, save for a few scrapes and bruises on Harry's rear end where the dog had tried to bite him.  Severus drew out his own potions kit, which held more potions than his apprentice's, and handed the Animagus a squat earthenware jar. "Here.  Rub that on your backside, it'll take care of the scrapes and bruises."

Harry blushed.  "How did . . .? I don't really need it."

"Put it on, no arguments, mister.  Even a scratch from that dog could be deadly. Or I shall."

"No!" yelped Harry, grabbing the jar and scurrying off to the bathroom.

While Harry was doing that, Severus attended to his own scratches with yet another salve.  He had just finished shrugging his shirt back on when Harry emerged from the bathroom, still red-faced and indignant.

"You know, Sev, you aren't supposed to risk your life either," he scolded as he went to hand the jar back.  "So what was with throwing me into a wall before?"

"First off, I acted to prevent you from being burnt to a crisp, and second I didn't throw you into a wall, I shoved you behind me."

"So then you almost became a crispy critter," Harry argued. 

"I did not.  I was prepared to battle the fire trap," Snape insisted.

"You almost died!" cried his apprentice.  "Look at your hands!" He indicated the slender hands, which were red and burned.

Severus grimaced.  "Perhaps . . .I miscalculated a little.  My timing was off."

"Don't do it again, you hear?" Harry waved a finger at his mentor, only half-teasingly.  "If you died-"

"Then the prophecy wouldn't be able to be fulfilled."

"No! Well, yes, that's true, but . . .if you died, Sev . . .I wouldn't ever forgive myself . . .Not ever."

"Nonsense, child," Severus said gruffly.  "Rest assured, that when I die, it will be in a manner of my choosing.  And you will have no need to feel guilty at all, Harry James Potter."

"I will too," the boy hissed, looking down at the ground.  "Because you came on this quest ‘cause of me . . .and I should have gone by myself . . ."

"Why? So then you could play hero and die alone?" snapped the Potions Master. "Harry, the prophecy clearly states two of us are needed, and I chose to come of my own free will.  You are not responsible for the choice I make, how many times must I tell you that, you stubborn boy?"

"I know, but . . ."

"No! I knew the risks and it was my choice-mine, not yours-whether to take them.  I want Riddle destroyed as much as you do, maybe even more."

"Your hands, Sev." Harry gestured to them.   "Let me fix them for you."

Severus opened his mouth to refuse, but then he figured it might help assuage the boy's guilt complex if he allowed him to assist with the healing process.  "Very well.  There is a vial of spring water in the potion bottle in the back of the kit, use that first and then the Burn Salve. There are clean bandages in there as well."

He held out one hand, and Harry gently took it and laid it on his lap. He gently began to wash the professor's hand. 

Severus gazed at his burned hand and shuddered.  "I hate fire," he whispered, half to himself.  His eyes darkened and it seemed as if he was recalling something long ago that disturbed him greatly.

Harry looked up from salving Snape's palm and asked, very softly, "What are you talking about, Sev? I mean, I hate fire too, but . . .you sound like you've seen something terrible . . ."

Severus murmured, almost in a trance.  "Yes . . . long ago . . ."

"What did you see?"

Abruptly, Severus shook his head.  "There's no sense in talking about it, Harry."

Harry tilted his head, gently bandaging one of his teacher's hands, and then starting on the other one.  "Severus, remember when you told me it was good for me to talk about things that were bothering me? That I shouldn't keep them inside and let them fester?  Well, maybe you ought to take your own advice, sir."

"What's this? Are you trying to play mentor now, Mr. Potter?"

Harry gave him a quiet smile of encouragement. "I'm trying to help you, Sev.  Because you're my friend.  And my guardian. And you helped me when I needed it. Turnabout's fair play." He then bent his head and continued to work on Severus's left hand. 

Severus was silent for a long while, his eyes far away, reliving one of the most atrocious memories of his time as a spy.  Harry almost thought he wasn't going to say anything else, but finally he spoke, his voice low and rasping with an old anguish.

"This happened a few months after your birth, in October, I remember the month because it was unusually dry.  I had been a secret agent for several years and Voldemort was gradually beginning to give me more freedom as far as assignments go.  My main assignment was to spy upon Dumbledore, of course, and make potions for him, but occasionally he summoned me for other reasons.  That time . . .he decided that some Muggleborns needed to be reminded of their place and that they should not be allowed to breed like rabbits." Severus shivered and winced.

"Sorry, did I hurt you?"

"No." He licked his lips and continued.  "We went to a Muggleborn family's home in Somerset.  Lucius, me, Bellatrix, a few others.  We surround the house, Stun the parents and take their four children.  Voldemort brings them into a culvert in the woods, and wakes up the parents and immobilizes them.  The children were frightened, the oldest was only nine, the youngest was a toddler. They were whimpering and crying.  Voldemort was smiling, I shall never forget that smile.  He walked up to the oldest and patted him on the head. 

"Don't cry, child.  Soon you will never know pain or fear again." He laughed then.  The children didn't understand, all they wanted was to be let go.  He told them that they did not deserve to live, that the world needed to be cleansed of their presence." The Potions Master shut his eyes.  "Then he cast the Inferno Charm on them and burned them to ash.  All of them . . .even the little baby . . .he burned them alive while we watched . . .the parents were helpless to do anything . . .and then he killed them  . . .I could do nothing . . .otherwise my cover would be destroyed . . .and the Order needed to know his plans and his weaknesses . . .So I watched and sometimes . . .sometimes I hear them crying in my dreams . . .crying for me to save them . . .but I can do nothing save watch them die in the flames . . ."

Harry looked up then and saw the bleak bitter ache in the other's eyes.  Severus's words haunted and horrified him and he realized that the Potions Master had endured worse than the Cruciatus Curse during the course of his duties as a spy. "Oh God, Sev.  That's just . . ." he trailed off, unable to articulate what he felt.  "I never knew what being a spy really meant . . ."

"Nor does anyone, until they actually do it," answered the former spy quietly.  "There is no glamour, no heroism, in being an agent.  It is thankless and dangerous and I have seen things that will haunt me forever.  I would never recommend it as a career," he said with a touch of dry humor.  "That was one of the worst things, and the hardest thing I have ever done was to stand there and allow that bastard from hell to harm those children." There was a terrible rage in the obsidian eyes now, mingled with an equally terrible grief.  "I swore then that someday there would be a reckoning and he would pay in blood for the death of those children.  That time has come, and this is my payback."

And your atonement, Harry thought suddenly, only then understanding what drove the Potions Master so relentlessly.  "It wasn't your fault." Harry said abruptly.  "You couldn't know what Voldemort would do."

"No? I should have anticipated it . . ."

"Even if you did, you might not have been able to save them and then you'd have blown your cover and maybe killed yourself.  You didn't kill them, Sev, so stop blaming yourself."

Severus snorted, half-irritated and half-amused to have his own advice turned on him so neatly.  How ironic, Snape.  The student has become the teacher.  "I . . . shall try."

"Good.  Because that's Voldemort's responsibility, not yours."  Harry said earnestly, then he hugged the other wizard lightly for a minute before drawing away.

"What was that for?"

"You looked like you needed it," the boy answered, shrugging in embarrassment.  He rose and looked up towards the staircase.  "So . . .how about we see what that hellhound was guarding so we can send Riddle on a one way trip to hell?"

"A magnificent idea, fledgling," Severus said, examining the staircase for evil influences before starting up it.

At the top they found themselves in a kind of attic, it was dark and stuffy and Harry cast Lumos almost immediately, for his phobia of dark small spaces was causing him to shiver and his breath to catch.  Beneath the eaves was a bookcase, though most of the books had been removed, a few tattered copies still remained.  In a far corner was a small desk with three drawers along the lefthand side. 

Severus quickly checked for any more spell traps before motioning Harry to follow him.  The professor headed over to examine the bookshelf and Harry went to examine the desk. 

To his disappointment, the desk was empty except for a few broken quills and scraps of parchment, plus a broken inkwell.  "Junk! Nothing but junk!" Furious that they had risked their lives for nothing, he kicked the side of the desk drawers hard. The bottom drawer popped open and Harry went to shove it back, only to find it refused to shut properly.

Damn it to hell! He banged the drawer hard, only to have it bounce back and nearly fall on his foot.

Severus looked up from his perusal of the old school texts and said sharply, "Mr. Potter, there is no need for you to have a temper tantrum.  Why are you banging the furniture?"

Because I bloody well feel like it, was on the tip of his tongue, but he controlled himself and answered, "This damn drawer is stuck and won't shut." He knelt down and felt about inside the back of the drawer, figuring perhaps some parchment had gotten caught behind there. 

His fingers encountered something else though.

He gently lifted a small leatherbound notebook from the back of the desk.  A notebook! Maybe it has something in it about Voldemort.  He opened it, hoping it contained something he could use to help him in his quest.

To his dismay, the first few pages were blank, and the rest of them were covered in a strange spidery script of runes that he could not read.  Frustrated, he nearly threw the notebook on the ground.  But then he figured he might as well show it to Severus.  Maybe he can read it.  I just hope it's not a list of groceries or an address book or something useless like that. "Sev, I think I found something."

Severus rose.  "What? Nothing up here is of any importance, all of these books are old schoolbooks and none of them are disguised to hide anything within them."

Harry handed him the journal.  "I found this in the back of the desk drawer, only I can't read any of it."

Severus took the notebook and opened it.  "That's because you never learned to read Ancient Runes."

"Can you read it?"

"Yes, I can translate it." He frowned.  "These sentences make no sense." He continued reading. 

"What does it say? Are there spells in there?"

"No.  This whole book is full of fragments and rhyming bits that have no coherence, at least from the few lines I can translate."

"But why keep a notebook with stuff that makes no sense?"

"The Gaunts and Voldemort were given to fits of insanity . . ." the Potions Master scowled.  He scanned the lines again, flipping through the pages.  Then he stopped.  "Wait.  There is a pattern here.  Of course! I am the world's biggest idiot! It makes no sense on purpose."

"Huh?"

"It's in code, Harry."

"You mean . . .Voldemort wrote this in an Ancient Rune code?"

"He may or may not have.  I'll only know if I can decipher it."

"Can you?"

"I do not know." Severus yawned.

"This was what the fire and the hellhound was guarding, I'll bet." Harry said excitedly.  "Maybe there's clues in there on where to find the . . .H-forbidden objects."

"Perhaps.  But I am too tired to begin trying to translate this entire notebook, much less break a cipher now. Voldemort thought himself clever, I suppose, leaving behind a riddle wrapped within a conundrum."

"Should we leave and come back later?" Harry suggested.

"I would advise against that."

"Why?"

"Hush and tell me what you hear," Severus ordered abruptly.

Harry obeyed and then he heard the sharp sound of rain on the roof, followed by a loud peal of thunder.  There was a storm outside, quite a bad one if the sound of the wind was any indication. 

"Blast, it's storming."

"Yes.  We cannot fly in this, too dangerous.  So I suggest we stay here for tonight, I do not care to risk a broken wing, and Apparition is impossible during a thunderstorm, it plays havoc with transportation spells."

Harry groaned, he really didn't want to spend the night here.  "What about Hedwig? And our packs?"

"I am sure Hedwig is smart enough to take shelter in weather like this," Severus soothed.  "As for our packs . . ." He quickly summoned them with a casual wave.

"Someday you're going to have to teach me how you do that."

"Wandless magic can be difficult for most wizards to master, but given your talent, I think you could learn it. But I have no time to teach you at the moment.  For now, let us eat and then get some sleep."

This time, Harry prepared their small meal of soup and sandwiches and they ate hungrily.  Severus made Harry drink a Calming Draft before going to sleep, then drank a vial of a Sleeping Draught himself before curling up on his sleeping bag, falling asleep to the staccato patter of rain on the roof along with the occasional clap of thunder and flash of lightning.